With everything that is happening on campus, and some people thinking that
the most important things in our lives are being sold down the river, and
others thinkinbg that we are selfish and self-centered for thinking that, I
decided to do a little two-step exercise I reserve for just those moments.

1.  I took out the snapshots of the helicopter which fell to earth from
3,000 feet one summer day when my husband Gregg & I were going to see the
crater of a live volcano on one of the Hawaiian Islands. The pieces are
strewn over the mountain landscape and are twisted and crushed. It never
fails to remind me that if I survived that (in a brace for year, to be
sure, but alive), I can handle just about anything the world can dish out.

2.  I read the piece I am adding to the bottom of this message, which was
sent to me by my daughter, the mother of my two precious grandsons.

I hope it will help you keep out academic problems in perspective, and to
think seriously about your priorities.  I am not suggesting that we take it
and roll with the punches, I AM suggesting that in this time of adversity,
the question of priorities is a serious one.

Here's the story:

"BUTTERFLY KISSES"

We often learn the most from our children.

Some time ago, a friend of mine punished his 3-year-old daughter for
wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight, and he became
infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the tree.

Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next
morning and said, "This is for you, Daddy." He was embarrassed by his
earlier overreaction, but his anger flared again when he found that the box
was
empty. He yelled at her, "Don't you know that when you give someone a
present, there's supposed to be something inside of it?"

The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, "Oh,
Daddy, it's not empty. I blew kisses into the box. All for you, Daddy."

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he
begged her forgiveness.

My friend told me that he kept that gold box by his bed for years. Whenever
he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the
love of the child who had put it there.

In a very real sense, each of us as parents has been given a gold container
filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children.

There is no more precious possession anyone could hold.

**************************************
Oralia Preble-Niemi,Ph.D.
Professor and Head
Foreign Languages & Literatures
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Chattanooga, TN  37403
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