"I don�t think parents reading their children bedtime stories should constantly have in their minds the way that they are unfairly disadvantaging other people�s children, but I think they should have that thought occasionally."

Said a professor at the University of Warwick, The National Review reports in (fake?) horror. I heard Rush Limbaugh talking about this the other day too. I guess it was red meat for righties, but the professor's quote was perfectly true (to the point of banality) and his proposal was modest and apt.

This is mostly the traditional, old-fashioned moral practice of counting your blessings. Maybe before you eat dinner, you should say grace and reflect for one second about how there are people in this world who are hungry.

Hey, here's a bedtime story, kids, "The Great Gatsby." It begins:

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I�ve been turning over in my mind ever since.

�Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,� he told me, �just remember that all the people in this world haven�t had the advantages that you�ve had.�

It's very stodgy, very old-fashioned advice, this thinking about the less privileged. I know Rush and The National Review are acting like the professor is a big, old lefty, but I'm trying to remember that maybe they didn't have all the advantages I have had. I�m inclined to reserve all judgments, and as a consequence, I've been unjustly accused of being a politician....