A Beautiful Heart
by Steve Goodier
One grandfather quipped about his grandchildren: "My grandkids
are four and six. The Pulitzer Prize winner is four and the brain
surgeon is six."
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
("A Beautiful Mind"). Young Skylar has a beautiful heart. It is
that one quality, above all else, that makes beautiful people.
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