Whether we're a preschooler or a young teen, a graduating college senior or a retired person, we human beings all want to know that we're acceptable, that our being alive somehow makes a difference in the lives of others.

Anyone who does anything to help a child in his life is a hero to me.

Hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are.

When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.

Our children are extensions of ourselves in ways our parents are not, nor our brothers and sisters, nor our spouses.

A young apprentice applied to a master carpenter for a job. The older man asked him, "Do you know your trade?" "Yes, sir!" the young man replied proudly. "Have you ever made a mistake?" the older man inquired. "No, sir!" the young man answered, feeling certain he would get the job. "Then there's no way I'm going to hire you," said the master carpenter, "because when you make one, you won't know how to fix it.

Parents are like shuttles on a loom. They join the threads of the past with threads of the future and leave their own bright patterns as they go.