My daughter, like the typical American girl, has had her share
of dolls and stuffed animals. Today, through modern technology, a
little girl need not be content with dull, lifeless dolls, but can
experience the thrill of owning a lifelike replica of a baby that
can walk and talk, drink and wink, slurp and burp, cry, sigh and
laugh--almost anything a real baby does, including wet itself and
get diaper rash. After ten years of buying these mechanical
marvels, I wondered which of these dolls was my daughter's
favorite? To my surprise, I found her favorite was a small rag doll
she had received on her third birthday. All the other performing
dolls had gone, but this simple rag doll had allowed her to love
it. The other dolls had caught her eye, but the rag doll had won
her heart. To my daughter the rag doll was real and was loved just
the way it was, and the scars of love showed as the hair was nearly
gone, the eyes were missing, and the clothes were soiled and torn.
But, missing all these parts, it was still what it had always been,
just itself. We are, too often, like the high-tech dolls of my
daughter. We try to impress others with skills, talent, education,
speech, or mannerisms when what they want is someone just being
themselves. Within every man lies the innate desire to be loved and
accepted. Don't try to be something or someone that you are not.
Just be yourself. Love is not won--a reward for performance or
achievement. You don't have to sing, teach, preach, or pray well to
be loved. People will not love us for what we do but rather for
what we are.
-- Randy Spencer
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