When you meet new people at work, at your place of worship, in the PTA, or other organizations, and something about them strikes you as extraordinary, please “adopt” them at once in your mind and heart. Study what makes these adults so special. Have they overcome extraordinary difficulties? Have they risen above their meager backgrounds? Did they prevail against terrible odds? Have they lived each and every day to the best of their abilities and kept a smile on their face?

Family Choices

Whatever it is that makes some people stand out in your mind, take a lesson from them by copying their attitudes, their courageous outlook, their determination to not be bowed and cowed — and impart this lesson to your daughter. Even better, invite these people — whatever their age, ethnicity, or accent — to your house for your daughter to learn from firsthand. You did not get to choose your biological family members. Now make a deliberate attempt to pick the best human beings you can find as your “chosen family.” Find yourself a substitute sister, brother, parents, and/or cousin from among the most amazing human beings you meet. You can choose from the whole human race.

If you cannot have some special people visit you, schedule an outing during which your girl can absorb — via osmosis — some of their magnificence. If your contact with them is only brief, still take away from them something you can pass on to your daughter — the sparks of invincibility of the human spirit and the greatness that resides in each of us, including your daughter.