Liz told me a secret earlier this evening. We were in the car, coming home from a potluck dinner. Liz said "The secret thing about me is I care about people's feelings." She went on to explain that she could tell me but not others. Perhaps she feels that if others know she will be more vulnerable?

It is difficult to explain to an almost 8 year old that often other people are unkind to others because they feel bad about themselves. I did try to explain but I don't believe I had significant success. I believe this type concept must be revisited repeatedly and approached in a variety of ways.

I'm proud of Liz for caring about people's feelings and I told her so. Is it wise to not allow people to know how much you care? Maybe it is wise with some people in a practical, real life way. My spiritual answer would be no, let's care about one and other openly, joyfully and make the world a better place.

Of course, I struggle daily with how to communicate this type information to Liz. I believe the most effective form of communication is to role model the behaviors one is attempting to communicate. "Words" and "talk" fall short almost always.

I truly don't believe that a person can ever be happy/content/joyful if he/she does not care about others.