After the events of this past week I am forced to recall a
thought I have often had. That thought being that our civilization still works
mainly because people are basically good at heart and on the whole, honest. Even
though there are some people, such as the Boston marathon bombers, who would
like to see harm done to others they are a very small minority when you take
into account the total world population. I know that will be of little comfort
to those people who were hurt or to the families and friends of those who were
killed.
In my children’s books I use the themes of friendship, the
cooperation with others, and the kindness to strangers as vehicles to tell my
stories of fantasy and fiction. This week the people in Boston proved that
friendship, cooperation, and the helping of strangers are not just concepts for
stories of fantasy but real human qualities that are alive and well and
existing in us all.
It is my profound hope that the kindnesses and heroism that
occurred in Boston will continue and thrive in our everyday life and not just
manifest itself in times of extreme crisis, and above all that going forward we do not give
into the fear caused by two extremists.
