I was sitting in the waiting room of a doctor’s office recently and waiting also was a grandmotherly type and a girl about 3-4 years old. Cartoons were on the tv and after the first, it said “The End.” \u00a0The grandmother looks up and says, “the end,” and goes back to her magazine. \u00a0The child begins to cry and say, “oh no, not the end!” The woman chuckles and calls her silly. \u00a0The child repeated it several times before I felt obliged to jump in and say, “It’s ok. It’s just the end of that one cartoon. \u00a0When you hear “The End,” it means the end of one thing and the beginning of something else. The End is always followed by a new beginning. New beginnings are fun.” \u00a0The woman looked up at me and hugged the little girl close and mouthed the words, “thank you.” “There are always new beginnings,” the woman said to her, smiling at me with her eyes. \u00a0How sad a child has to fear those words. What a blessing that the grandmother now has something else to say to her when she gets upset.<\/p>\n