Let's turn away from the political silliness - soft landing spots for former elected officials, reproductive anatomy lessons, pending eviction of all non-Christian Idahoans - and pad around this first Sunday morning of March on the gentle slippers of little squirrels and big-hearted children.

Thursday's front-page feature story on fuzzy tailed four-leggers fed and adored by two-legged friends brought applause from many readers. In case you missed it, the tale documented a 15-year-old love-eat relationship between Kootenai County Courthouse employees and, well, the cute rodents they've been feeding by hand for so long that the customers will step right up to the glass door if they haven't gotten their nummies on time.

In the dispensation of justice and peanuts, the hard shell of bureaucracy is cracked when we find man and beast not only managing to live with one another, but helping each other; a little chow for the squirrels, a little joy for their pals. If that isn't enough to bring spring into your heart, this might: Security Officer Wayne Olivo refused to let us use his given name unless we printed his entire name, as follows - Wayne "The Squirrel Whisperer" Olivo.

Before the little beasts came the little princesses. We're speaking of a story earlier in the week about kids in Katie Snow's fifth-grade class at Holy Family Catholic School. Led by two of their classmates, Kalena and Katy, the students filled 50 jars with goodies and raised lots of other nice things for children at Union Gospel Mission in Coeur d'Alene. UGM is one of the region's most amazing nonprofits, providing long-term recovery for women in crisis, which means the children of these women are also in crisis. That's why Kalena, Katy & Kompany came to the rescue.

Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. and a TV commercial about the plight of children living in missions, these students launched their project and, this week, will have all the goodies delivered to UGM. Students interviewed by The Press were already ecstatic about the good they're doing. And maybe that good will transcend even these great children's ambitions.

What if more of us followed their lead? If we took half the time we spend arguing about religion and politics and invested those precious hours instead in tangibly improving the condition of others, we could actually render great service to our fellow man - and squirrel - while cutting our own anxiety and frustrations at least in half. Nothing nuts about that.