DADS READ: "Hug Time" by Patrick McDonnell: how to change the world with small acts of kindness

My favorite boardbook (boardbooks are books printed on thick paperboard meant for toddlers), by far, is "Hug Time" by Patrick McDonnell - the comic artist who created Mutts - which appears in most newspapers.  I've read a lot of children's books since Lake was born, and it is rare to find a combination of amazing art work AND well written, rhyming prose.  Some books can manage one of the two, but when both elements are diffused into the same book - it is really magical.

The book begins with Jules:

At first, his owner, Doozy, was skeptical and asks: "hug the whole world?  will that make it better?  As Jules nodded yes, Doozy helped with his sweater".  Then Jules moves onto logistics: 

At first, he started small, giving hugs to his closest friends:

But he follows that up with a visit to the park, i.e. a butterfly - buttercups, a little gray squirrel, and then begins a trip around the world, including a trip on a boat, a blue whale hug, and a trip to Africa.  The chimpanzee is one of my favorite pages:

and this page has my favorite discovery:

Hug #306 is pretty special:

While Jules makes solid progress around the world hugging as he goes, he runs into his first logistical problem: he needs someone TO hug:

But, luckily a polar bear turned things around:

Finally, thankfully, Jules manages to make it home, to hug the most important person of all:

What I love most about this book is that it shows a way that we can all make the world better.  I really do believe that loving others will make the world better.  Hugging will make the world better.  Listening will make the world better.

I spent the better part of two years walking around Hong Kong, China as a Mormon missionary, and the greatest lesson I learned was that people need to be heard.  People are craving for a listening ear.  There was much about my time in Hong Kong that was beautiful and formative.  It was the most formative time in my life.  But it was also the most emotionally, physically, and spiritually damaging time of my life, too.  That took a long time to process and reconcile.

In part, because of my experience as a Mormon missionary, and through years of serious research and reflection on the Mormon God and Mormon Marriage/Polygamy, I've decided that the Mormon church isn't a safe place for me.

I'm not entirely sure what form God may take, or what happens to us when we die, but I've discovered that the most important thing in this life might be the time we have right here and right now.  The most important thing we can do is love those around us, listen to those who need to be heard, and have patience with ourselves and others.  I will always be grateful for my time in Hong Kong for teaching me that lesson.