Where has compassion gone? In an increasingly polarized world, we no longer teach our children how to look beyond the immediate and see the story behind the problems and people they encounter. Using a wise old talking tree and its magical red swing, the author teaches kids and adults how to bring compassion back into their daily life. Understanding others is not excusing them from their responsibility, but it is the key to making real changes for the better. Here MacAllister offers a unique perspective on such issues as: bullying, loss of a parent through death or divorce, race, obesity, cheating and more. This book teaches the value of taking time to think, compassion, good manners and civility toward others; offers coping skills for feeling different, isolated and ostracized; and it teaches about being open minded and how adversaries can become allies. Carol L. MacAllister, M.S.W., was born and raised in the Finger Lake Region of upstate New York. She spent her career as a psychiatric social worker in New York and New Mexico specializing in traumatic events of childhood. Now retired and living in western North Carolina, Ms. MacAllister offers a unique lens through which to view the challenges of growing up.