by Mary Ellen Stanton

“Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.”

John F. Kennedy  

During the winter, the Ethical Society occasionally closes if the weather conditions are unsafe for driving. Conditions may be safe in some parts of our Northern Virginia area and unsafe in others, so use your judgment and also check email (the announcements email list and members email list) or this website before leaving on a day where icy conditions may be present.

The usual procedure: A decision is made about 7:00 a.m. on Sunday morning by the NoVES President, the NoVES Leader, and two others who live in different parts of the county, as to whether NoVES will have its platform as usual or not. We do our best to interpret the predictions and current conditions to assess likely safety for our members and friends driving to the platform meeting.

If conditions look like they won't be safe for the drive to or from the Society, and assuming that power is not out, we then try to (a) update the front page of the website and send an email to the email lists (see above). Check for the email and web update by about 8:00 a.m. on Sunday (power permitting).

Time has escaped me as we have been so busy at home and with Sunday school, but I vow to stay caught up!

 Classes resumed last week after a winter break and our winter festival. We were happy to see so many happy faces return and to see some new faces as well.

It's the end of the first week of January -- do you know where your New Year's Resolutions are?

About half of Americans make some sort of resolution with the turning of the year, and at least half of them have dropped them within a week.

Here's my musings on how to make, remake, tweak resolutions: New Year's Resolutions That Really Work

When is the sum greater than its parts? 

A farmer had seven children.  One winter day he called his children together.  He handed the eldest son a stick to break in half.  The young man easily snapped the stick in two.  He repeated the exercise with each of his children.  Then he handed each child another stick.  However, this time he asked them to combine the sticks into a bundle and break the bundle in half.  First, the eldest son tried.  But, he could not break the bundle.  The farmer ga

Mary Ellen sat in her office one cold December evening. “Bah! Humbug! Too many meetings! Too many phone calls! Being the NoVES president is a humbug! I give up! I wish to be left alone.”

Her hard-working volunteer, Andy, poked his head into her office. “I, too, was a NoVES president and know how you feel. Tonight three Ethical Culture Leaders will visit you. Heed their words.”

"giving it all away, To a registered charity" 

Dear Etty,     

First, I have to start out by saying that being around all these bright, happy, and joyful children is such a pleasure. While it's my job, I love it! Those eager faces are precious and  the excitement on their faces when they get something? So rewarding.

And that leads me to the last two weeks. The youngest class had so much fun and yes, preschools can really work together without tears and without fights. We read a story from Sesame Street called, "Big Bird Shares". In the story Big Bird gets a new toy that he doesn't want to share and by the end he learned that sharing his toy led to making something even greater than he could have made on his own. So, our kids worked together and built this (plus many more like it): 

This past week, we focused on UNICEF. We started classes talking a bit about what UNICEF is and why we try to help and talked about how the children can help. The classes divided up after that and each teacher centered their lesson around UNICEF within the framework of their curriculum. For the preschool/kindergarten class that meant they read a story, Biblioburro by Winter. It's a wonderful story and ties in so well with why giving to those who have so little is so important.

     Nothing ever happens around here!  How often did I utter that statement as a teenager growing up in Florissant, Missouri?  Nothing new ever seemed to happen in that little town.  Often there was talk of something new – an ice cream store, a movie theater, or a new clothing store – but nothing ever seemed to happen.  AND, most importantly from my teenage perspective, nothing ever happened to me.  My school stayed the same.  My friends stayed the same. My parents stayed the same.  And I would never meet my teen idol Bobby Rydell.