My September article has typically been devoted to educational issues to coincide with the commencement of the new school year. My intention was to follow that tradition again this year. However, the recent devastation caused by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma has prompted me to bring a different focus to this September’s article, namely, what I believe to be the inherent kindness of people and the importance of cultivating this attribute in our lives and the lives of our children. As I write this column the extensive damage and loss produced by Harvey and Irma and the amount of time that will be required for recovery and repair are becoming increasingly apparent. One cannot help but be saddened by scenes from the past couple of weeks of people, many with young children, waiting desperately in line for hours to enter an evacuation center, of flooding even in those areas that have not witnessed such flooding in the past, of a woman relating how she had saved for years to purchase her first home and now it was gone and she did not have flood insurance, of a mounting injury and death toll, and of the destruction of hundreds of homes,…
