"If We All Treated Each Other Like Family, Maybe There Wouldn't Be Any of This"

Again in the news, another senseless killing of a police officer. A lady who was at the funeral observed that the fellow officers of the deceased worked together to honor him and helped their comrade's family with funeral preparations. She spoke what I have believed all along: "If we all treated each other like family, maybe there wouldn't be any of this."

Peace in this world starts with empathy and respect. How many killings do we have to hear about before we realize that we have to do something deliberate to stop them? Parents must put modeling and teaching empathy and respect to their children as two of their parental priorities. These two values embedded in a child's mind will make him feel good about giving to others and confident in relating to peers, teachers, parents and other adults in the community. What a wonderful world we would live in, eh?