Pictographs

Unless you're a child, birthdays come and go, often without any fanfare, just some food and drinks, and perhaps a cake with a candle on top for the romantics.  And gifts are out of the picture.

The usual monotony was broken when my niece Terê gave me a simple birthday card.  It was done on plain bond paper using a pencil and an eraser (if you work near kids, you notice the eraser is busy).  Well... in short, that made my day!

Little things matter a lot, especially if you see the underlying effort and thought invested in the task.

Communication is universal regardless of age, and it's not even a human monopoly.  Other life forms use it.  Adults invariably use letters, numbers and other symbols in their messages.  Children on the other hand use drawings no matter how rudimentary they may look.  And since they are virtual pictographs, the readers understand the message.  Obviously we cannot over-analyze the drawings.

Pope Benedict XVI once said that "children truly are the family's greatest treasure and most precious good."  Especially for the parents, we should nurture the children and give proper attention to them.  The little thing you utter today may go a long way.  And because of this, people around kids should shun saying bad words.  There are many things that turns me off, and cursing is on top of the list!

Surely as children, we can remember one person in our lives who we idolized and gave us good advice and pointers growing up.  We can become such person to the young ones.  "All grown-ups were once children—although few of them remember it" (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry).

Admittedly it's difficult with this kind of media, inclusive of the Internet's dark edge, but let's preserve our little angels' innocence, and protect their dignity as human beings, sons and daughters of God above.  Our Lord Jesus Christ himself mentioned it in Matthew 18.6; 19.14 (RSV):

"...But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

"Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven."