No matter what your political position is, it’s probably fair to say that Hillary Clinton may be feeling a bit despondent about the results of the election. In fact, she explicitly shared her pain during her concession speech.

What amazed me this week was my 5-year old daughter’s capacity to realize this pain on her own the morning after the election.  When we discussed the results, the first thing she said was I want to send a kind thought to Hillary Clinton because she must be feeling really sad.

She must be feeling really sad.

With that simple articulation, we came up with this week’s kindness project.  Together we set out to send a kind thought to Hillary and thank her for her hard work and service.  We first talked about the United States, and went through the 50 states on a world map.  We then put together a U.S. flag with construction paper.  We turned the 50 stars into 50 hearts, which we individually cut out, so they all were a little different.  I explained to my daughter that the 50 hearts represent the 50 states of our great nation and that probably now more than ever we needed to spread a lot of love throughout our country.  And that just like our cutout hearts, we are all a little different, but we needed to be united as one.    We then glued individual notes to Hillary on the back of our flag to say we felt sorry for Hillary’s pain and that we were appreciative of her lifelong service to our country. My daughter thanked her for trying to be the first girl president, and she called her her hero.

Different hearts, united as one.

In a period of such divisiveness and uncertainty in our country, it seems like the one thing that we can be certain of is that as a country, we can only heal if we treat one another with compassion and love.  We are all different hearts. Our ability to empathize with one another is truly how we can understand each other, respect each other and reach common ground.  Fostering empathy in our children is probably one of the most crucial steps we can take as parents to help them have a more peaceful future in this world.  This is why I am committed to helping littles and bigs become more mindful and compassionate in my home and in our community.

If any of you want to write a thank you letter with your children, here is where you can mail a letter to Hillary:

Hillary Clinton
Post Office Box 5256
New York, NY 10185-5256