Empathy and Kindess

I came across a graduation speech that Will Ferrell gave at the University of Southern California. I was struck by his candor and humility, and I particularly liked this quote:

...you will never truly be successful until you learn to give beyond yourself. Empathy and kindness are the true signs of emotional intelligence.

I've been thinking about how Sam is so mature for his age, and I think that it partially is because he has an inherent ability to feel empathy and be kind. A neighborhood boy came over to play this week and the game that he invented with Sam involved hiding behind doors - in the end, the game ended up frightening Lucy. When I came upstairs to see what was going on, Lucy was crying but Sam also got emotional as well. He has an inherent sense of what is the kind thing to do, and I hope that he continues to take his sister's feelings into consideration for the rest of his life.