EL DORADO ? One of the most important activities people can undertake to recover from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is to participate in their communities, former first lady Barbara Bush said Monday.

“Never in our history has it been more important for us to become good neighbors,” she told the 2,100 people attending the Butler County Community College Cultural Series.

Bush offered a wide-ranging litany of grandmotherly advice  from the lighthearted (“Never ask anybody how they feel if they are over 70 years old”) to a more sobering reflection of terrorism.

She said she and former President George Bush have tremendous confidence in President George W. Bush and his team.

“As a mother I would give anything not to have to see the president deal with these challenging times,” she said.

A common question people ask her son is whether his father gives him advice, she said. His stock answer to that, she told the audience, is: “‘If I ask him he does, but not my mother  she gives it all the time.”‘

And so she did  this time to a Kansas audience enthralled with the glimpse into the presidential family.

She recounted how unimportant all the headlines from the previous days papers looked after the Sept. 11 attacks.

“I think all of us been embarrassed at all the trivial things we worried and fussed about before,” she said.

Bush also told the crowd not to be afraid of shadows, because they mean there is a light shining somewhere.

“This is a wonderful time for each of us to remind ourselves what is really important in life and what is not,” she said.

She urged the audience to read to their children and grandchildren, telling them literacy could solve more of the world’s problems.

She noted that in Afghanistan only 30 percent of the men and 15 percent of the women can read. Therefore, she said, most could not read the Koran for themselves to know it speaks about love.

“No wonder they can be ruled by the evil ones. … They are taught Koran told them to kill, so they do,” she said.