By Cathy Jameson

I dropped the ball.  I hate it when that happens.  After successfully helping one family, another was looking forward to my suggestions and assistance.  We’d set a date to meet, but I forgot.  When the day arrived, I had nothing but an apology to give them.

“I’m so sorry.  Life got busy…I’ll have time again next week.”  Life did get really busy, both at home and at my job.  Time is precious.  At certain points in life, time can feel like its slipping through your fingers.  It especially feels like that when your child is not hitting milestones as quickly as other children are.  I was disappointed in myself for not keeping better track of things.  The family who was expecting my input must’ve been disappointed as well. 

“I’ll call you.  I promise,” I said.

“That would be great,” the mom replied.

I had big plans to put some amazing resources together for her.  I’d already been in communication about some summer camps, ones that offer hands-on experiences for kids who are experiencing delays.  I’d sent links with other helpful information, which she and her husband appreciated.  When a family who is struggling reaches out, and who then listens to your advice, you want to continue to help them navigate the unknown.  I thankfully get another chance to do that.  Next week.  When life slows down quite a bit.  When I can dedicate two entire days to giving them hope.

Hope helps.

It helps people grow in faith, in trust, and in confidence.

Young parents need all three to get through some stages, including the ones their child is struggling through at the moment. 

Being an advocate for others has been a gift to me, and I promise not to mess things up again for this couple.  Thankfully, I get a second chance to help and to offer them some hope.  If that isn’t inspiring enough, in the process of this family reaching out, two more are waiting to talk to me as well.  Hope’s gotten me through tons of situations, and I’d like for these families to be able to walk the next part of their journeys with some hopeful direction, too.  As busy and tiring as the last two weeks have been, I’m really looking forward to next week.  That’s when I get to dedicate my energy some deserving children.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa4eO-IcpqQ

Cathy Jameson is a Contributing Editor for Age of Autism.

In light of last week's legal case, we thought we'd share this book from Skyhorse Publishing. It's not an endorsement nor is it a a giddy cheer. It's just a book you might want to read.   In Get Trump: The Threat to Civil Liberties, Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law, Alan Dershowitz—#1 New York Times bestselling author and one of America’s most respected legal scholars—analyses the unremitting efforts by political opponents of Donald Trump to “get” him—to stop him from running in 2024—at any cost.
 
Alan Dershowitz has been called “one of the most prominent and consistent defenders of civil liberties in America” by Politico and “the nation’s most peripatetic civil liberties lawyer and one of its most distinguished defenders of individual rights” by Newsweek.
 
Get Trump makes clear that unconstitutional efforts to stop Trump from retaking the presidency challenge the very foundations of our liberty: due process, right to counsel, and free speech. Those who justify these dangerous departures from the rule of law argue that the threat posed by a second Trump presidency is “different” and “immediate,” while the departures from constitutional norms are longer term and more abstract.
 
Dershowitz explains that defenders of Trump’s constitutional rights—even those like him who oppose Trump politically—are sought to be silenced; their free speech rights attacked, their integrity questioned, and their careers threatened. Much of the media substitutes advocacy against Trump for objective reporting, while many in academia petition and propagandize against rights they previously valued—all in the interest of getting Trump.
 
The essence of justice is that it must be equally applicable to all, Dershowitz notes. No one is above the law but digging to find crimes in order to influence an election does not constitute the equal application of the law. In order to assure equal application in comparable situations, he proposes two criteria for indicting a likely candidate of the opposing party: the Richard Nixon standard and the Hillary Clinton standard—and most recently, the Joe Biden standard.
 
Get Trump warns that regardless of whether this anti-democratic effort to stop Trump from running succeeds or fails, it is likely to create dangerous precedents that will lie around like loaded weapons ready to be deployed against other controversial candidates, officials, or citizens about whom it can be argued that the danger they pose “is different.”