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About
ten years ago when I was an undergraduate in college, I was
working as an intern at my University's Museum of Natural History.
One day while working at the cash register in the gift shop, I saw
an elderly couple come in with a little girl in a wheelchair.
As I looked closer at this
girl, I saw that she was kind of perched on her chair. I then
realized she had no arms or legs, just a head, neck and torso. She
was wearing a little white dress with red polka dots.
As the couple wheeled her
up to me I was looking down at the register. I turned my head
toward the girl and gave her a wink. As I took the money from her
grandparents, I looked back at the girl, who was giving me the
cutest, largest smile I have ever seen. All of a sudden her
handicap was gone and all I saw was this beautiful girl, whose
smile just melted me and almost instantly gave me a completely new
sense of what life is all about. She took me from a poor, unhappy
college student and brought me into her world: a world of smiles,
love and warmth.
That was ten years ago.
I'm a successful business person now and whenever I get down and
think about the troubles of the world, I think about that little
girl and the remarkable lesson about life that she taught me.
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