Just the fact that everybody has a dharma should be enough to cause us all to respect each other forevermore. But in times past, people haven’t been any more aware of each other’s unique rarity than that of those sand jewels upon which they have been trodding for millennia. (see video link, July 18th blog).

It is crucial for genuine, heart felt respect to somehow take root and grow in this world, both to abolish war and to facilitate the fullest development of our remarkable potential.

One day, while keeping two of my young grandsons, I was given a big reality check with all their squabbling, grabbing, hitting, whining and hollering. I had used up every trick I knew about distracting, bribing, correcting, threatening, punishing and putting them in time outs.

A small voice within me seemed to whisper, “Honey, this is ‘where the rubber meets the road’ for that project of yours. Drop everything and figure this out or forget the whole thing.”

This sobering realization focused my mind more powerfully than the Hubble telescope, and I finally saw clearly that getting kids to treat each other with respect would always be an endless and impossible task unless the desire to do so came from WITHIN the child.

But how? How on earth?? There had to be a way. I gave this dilemma my best thought for about 24 hours, with faith that an answer would come.

Jameson is a middle child, sandwiched between the beloved first born and the adored baby of the family. In his mind, little Jack was the imposter, encroaching on his time, attention, possessions and love. Consequently, Jameson got into the habit of slyly tormenting Jack by kicking over his building blocks, tearing up his puzzles and the like.

Control? Tie him to a tree maybe? Stuff Jack’s screaming mouth with a soggy wash cloth? (Just kidding, of course…)

Finally, I conceived an experiment. Jameson, age 5 and Jack age 3, were about to become little guinea pigs in Nana’s brand new research project.

Stay tuned – – –