What We Should All Be Taught As Children — And What We Should Teach Our Children Today

Do your best in whatever you attempt, and in every attempt, you will succeed.

Always hold forgiveness and love in your heart, and your needs — whatever they may be, will never go unfulfilled.

Be a beacon of light to everyone who chooses or refuses to see you. In doing so, your carefree spirit will glow, you will become a magnet of peace, and the world — and everyone in it — will become your graceful and protective shelter.

Know that you are loved — and that you are a beautiful child — in a world filled with other beautiful children. More than anything, realize that you are no less or more perfect than any other child — and that we are all equal in the eyes of love.

Those are the kinds of words and thoughts I heard from my parents while I was growing up.

I was raised in the 1960s and 1970s in a modest, humble home made of solid red brick and stone on Erie Street in Rochester, New York. The house was situated in the shadow of the global offices of the Eastman Kodak Company, just one block away from where now stands Frontier Field.

We went to church every Sunday morning…and enjoyed pasta every Sunday at Noon, and every Tuesday and Thursday at 4:30. Mondays and Wednesday it…