WHAT IS GIVING LOVE TO CHILDREN ?

This is a variation on a theme,
taken from one of the censorship threads,
tho this is not concerned with censorship;
rather it is concerned with the generation of human emotion.



Thru my youth and middle age, I had no emotions toward children;
(except those who insisted upon screaming for great lengths of time
in restaurants or in planes or trains, toward whom I bore intense antagonism).
Most of my contact with them was within a professional environment,
when thay were involved in litigation, usually personal injury litigation,
within whose context, I treated them indistinguishably with the same
courtesy and respect as all other ligitants, never talking "down" to them,
nor addressing them by their first names.

In my older age, I feel a sense of benevolence toward them.
If I see them shouted at, or handled ruffly (not correctly spelled "roughly"),
I perceive a moral offense.
Unlike another citizen of this forum, this has no element of carnal desire,
but sometimes I appreciate children 's beauty, the same as beauty in a kitten,
a puppy, a rosebud or a sunset.

In my opinion, love is expressed to a person as kindness,
and if this gift is successful, it is absorbed into its target, as joy.
For instance, over the weekend, a lady of my acquaintance, the manager of a summer resort,
told me that she will take her several little boys to a place of entertainment
to celebrate some of their birthdays. She and her husband seem to be in
a little bit of a financially tight situation.
I don 't know her children; I have never spoken to them, tho I 've seen them,
but I gave her a few hundred $$ to magnify and intensify their respective joys
during this celebratory excursion. In the same place, I saw a very little 5 year old boy,
digging with a tiny shovel in a sandbox. I had 7 dimes at hand, change from a purchase.
I threw the dimes in front of him.
He looked perplexed; his mother had to explain to him that he shoud pick them up.
I think he liked the gift; (break the monotony, anyway, at least for his mother, if not for him.)

Similarly, some years ago, while at a gunnery range,
a group of Boy Scouts in uniform arrived, led by their Scout Master,
to whom I gave several hundred $$ for ammunition, and for such movies
and ice cream etc. of their choice, and I showed them the handguns that
I was using on that occasion, while advising them in the years and decades to come
always to vote against liberals and Democrats. We all agreed that voting
against liberals was a fine thing to do. Thay sent me a nice giant card
expressing their gratitude, signed by many boys, promising to vote against liberals.


On an eclectic basis, I accept Jeremy Bentham's vu that the gratuitous
creation of unnecessary pain is bad and that the unexpected creation of joy is good.

Some people who have returned from death (usually in hospitals)
have reported seeing their lives pass in front of them,
and that thay felt the pain and the joy that thay created in their fellow beings.

" The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes. "
Shakespeare; the Merchant of Venice; Act 4 scene 1



If one 's goal is to create joy,
it appears to me that it is more cost effective and efficient
on a per dollar basis to give cash to those whose cash flow is smaller.
Few children have jobs.
Accordingly, many of them are not accustomed to handling much cash,
so that the unexpected arrival of a small amount thereof,
maybe $20 or $50 will evoke more joy than someone with a larger cash flow.

HOWEVER, it can also be fun
to begift waitresses in good restaurants,
if thay be of singular and intense beauty.
Tests have revealed that thay like $100.oo bills.

(Give it a shot and report back.)



David