The Children

clipped from www.davidwarrenonline.com In this book, the magnificent Dutch historian and linguist shows that play is not merely an element in human societies, but essential to them; that human cultures are themselves largely products of many forms of play. "Civilization is, in its earliest phases, played. It does not come from play like a babe detaching itself from the womb: it arises in and as play, and never leaves it." As Christmas approaches, we have been taught to think of the poor and the disabled, the old who are shut in, the dying in our hospitals, the prisoners in our jails -- and at our best we visit them. But we must remember that the largest disadvantaged group in our society -- often deprived alike of love and of their freedom -- is our children. Christmas means nothing if it is not for them.