Gene's Blog

A beautiful heart

We’ve all seen, okay, heard of, the movie, starring Russell Crowe, A Beautiful Mind – I’m the one who hasn’t seen it, lol. But this special little girl and her beautiful heart comes from Steve Goodier and is worth sharing. So, for tonight, this is it. Just a quick note following:

Parents and grandparents are understandably proud of the quick minds
and impressive talents of their little ones. But let me tell you about
another quality, perhaps even more important, found in a little girl
named Skylar.

I received a letter from a grandmother who told me about her four-
year-old granddaughter Skylar. Ever since Skylar learned of Disneyland
from TV, she saved her nickels and dimes in a piggy bank in hopes of
visiting there someday. Her parents surprised her with a trip
when she was four, however, and didn’t even require her to use her own
money!

When Skylar returned it was Christmastime. She decided to buy presents
with her savings. But she also learned from announcements on TV about
a local homeless shelter called “The Road House.” She repeatedly asked
her mother what “homeless” meant and why those children needed coats
and warm clothes. She couldn’t seem to get the homeless off her mind.

Her mother took her to the store to buy presents. Instead of buying
for herself or her family, however, she decided to purchase a warm
coat, socks, gloves and crayons for a little girl in the shelter. She
also wanted to buy a doll (a “baby,” as she called it), but when she
discovered she didn’t have enough money, she left the doll behind.

When Skylar got home, she lined up her own much-loved “babies” and
chose one she thought another child could also love. The baby went
into a box with the other items she bought that day.

She could hardly wait for Christmas! Skylar was not thinking about
Santa Claus or the presents she would be getting. She was thinking
about going to the shelter and giving her carefully selected
gifts to a homeless child.

On Christmas Eve she and her family drove to the shelter where Skylar
presented her Christmas box to a grateful little girl. She was so
filled with joy at truly helping someone else, that her family has
decided to make the journey to the homeless shelter an annual
tradition.

“Perhaps it’s good to have a beautiful mind, but an even greater gift is to have a beautiful heart,” says Nobel Laureate John Nash. Young Skylar has a beautiful heart. It is that one quality, above all else, that makes beautiful people.

— Steve Goodier

Now, wouldn’t it be a good thing if THIS were what we taught our children about this time of year? As the incessant bombardment of seasonal music (has ANYONE written a new Christmas song since 1950? I swear I have come to loathe the old standbys and cannot abide their incessant intrusion into my life for what seems like months but is, I suppose, just 6 weeks or so) does its worst to turn me into Scrooge, stories like this brighten my day, lighten my heart and let me remember that this season is, was, and always should be about love like Skylar’s. May your days be merry and bright and filled with much love, :^) gene