Photo Credit: Dano

I felt a little more like The-Barbed-Wire than TheWordWire this morning before my friend Sarah helped put things in perspective. She publishes a personal blog that chronicles the life of her family, and today she wrote about her 5 year-old son. He has a huge, sincere smile in every photo I've ever seen, which makes this particular story so heartwarming: Every time he sees someone walk by in front of their house he yells "Hey, I want to make friends with you!"

What do you know? Sometimes it works.


I'm sure supervising a child so fearless and outgoing has its challenges. But if we all let go of ego and self-doubt long enough to be this honest, the world just might be a better place. It reminds me of a sentiment from one of my all-time favorite authors:

"What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured." ~Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., American Novelist (1922-2007). Quoted from Palm Sunday Photo Credit: Rashawerakh

Maybe someday Sarah's son will get to tell this story himself. I imagine him as an adult, introducing a lifelong friend — How they met on the sidewalk as kids, and just didn't know any reason not to make friends. How it was perfectly safe to be honest and vulnerable. There were no fragile egos or power struggles; no politics or cultural expectations — Just a matter-of-fact declaration about their intentions to be friends, followed by the courage and character to be what they say.

"Hey, I want to make friends with you!" It's something we all should know how to do. It sounds so sweet and simple, but it's not — this is the kind of sentiment that, if followed, could end wars and hunger. More realistically, it can heal relationships closer to home. I, for one, am following the lead of this five year old today — He knows the secret to the cure for loneliness.

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