8-Year-Old Teach Lesson On The True Meaning Of Christmas

Decent Essays
8-Year-Old Teaches Lesson on the True Meaning of Christmas

In an age when consumerism, greed, selfishness, and self-centered lifestyles are prevalent, it is nice to see an example of someone marching the other way, especially during the Christmas season. This time of year used to be about cheer, goodwill, and celebrating the birth of Christ. It has become all about receiving gifts, shopping, partying, stress, loneliness, and depression. What a gift when a young person does not just choose to make a difference, but does something from the heart.

Josilyn Martin-Richardson lives in Chicago. She is eight-years-old. One day, her grandmother took her to the park and she started playing with a young girl who did not own a Barbie doll. This not

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Sandra Cisneros Barbie-Q

    • 344 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The short story, “Barbie-Q”, was written by Sandra Cisneros. This story is about two sisters growing up in a lower-class family. It is told in second person by one of the sisters. This provides the reader with undertones of naivety. We see in “Barbie-Q” that even the simplest of things can bring joy to an innocent child’s life.…

    • 344 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Imagine a thirteen-year-old student going to St. Jude. This kid may not be anyone famous or amazing, he is just a normal kid. However this child really helps out his school and parish. From CYO sports to school plays to Student Council, this kid does it all.…

    • 130 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Kids across the nation are standing out and making a difference. Whether its just picking up around the community or starting a foundation people can make a difference. Many people think kids are just in the way and don’t ever actually make a difference in their community. Blare Gooch started with a teddy bear, Alex Scott started with a cup of lemonade, and Zach Hunter started with a few pennies around his house. The smallest things can turn into a life changing difference.…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Good Citizen Analysis

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Paper #2 – Critical Evaluation of Dalton’s Citizenship Measures Generations of the American people faithfully participate in government policy because it is an honor and privilege to engage in the fundamentals of our country’s political democracy. In The Good Citizen, Russel J. Dalton explores good citizenship and how it affects the country. Also, Dalton focuses on the millennials, and challenges those that do not care about the country. Dalton further analyzes how the norms have changed over the past decades. Dalton’s ideas on American citizenship are interesting and somewhat engaging, which I find myself mostly agreeing with.…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Benevolence It is Christmas morning, so you wake up and your is heart pumping with excitement to look under the Christmas tree for your presents. When you arrive your heart fills with much despair because you find nothing there. Unfortunately, this happens to kids all around the world, some of these kids may go to your school. Consequently, every year, as a tradition my grandmother gathers up all of her grandkids and we volunteer at the Salvation Army Intake Center encompassed with her church. At eight a.m. sharp we get out of the car to have the brisk air slap us in the face, we halfway jog and halfway run into the place, we meet hundreds of boxes as soon as we open the door.…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He proposes to his people to try and stay under the $100 spending mark for their families and friends for the holidays. McKibben says that all the advertising makes it hard for the children to understand why they are not receiving elaborate gifts for the holidays. However, replacing those elaborate gifts with traditions such as tree cutting and decorating can help them grasp the idea of a real Christmas and still keep the excitement going. In his article, he says, “ If you believe that our consumer addiction represents our deepest problem—the force that keeps us from reaching out to others, from building a fair society, the force that drives so much of our environmental degradation—then Christmas is the nadir.” ( McKibben par.…

    • 675 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Be the change you wish to see in the world; Mahatma Gandhi's words of wisdom still ring true to me in my everyday life. His words invoke me to look within myself and evaluate how my good deeds can somehow be powerful enough to change the world. Volunteering at Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls kindled a fire within me and made me realize that I will not tolerate being a bystander in the world; I must be proactive in order to see results. This center allowed me to see how simply packing, sorting, and shining shoes can help a young child's get to school easier, allow a young soccer play to sign up for their local team, or protect a child from walking on harsh terrain while trying to collect water. The reason why I volunteer is because I wish for the child's troubles to be nonexistent, I want to live in a world where people don’t have to worry about having a function pair of shoes.…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Marge Piercy is the author of the poem “Barbie Doll”. Piercy begins the poem with a nameless “girlchild”. The poem doesn’t have a set rhyme scheme. The lines run together during the stanzas. Piercy does a great job of telling a story of a girl who ended her life because she didn’t live up to society’s standards.…

    • 219 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Sandra Cisneros’s short story, “Barbie-Q”, describes the hardships endured by a young girl, never identified by name, and the less-fortunate life she and her family lead. The child discloses the rarity of new toys, but purchases damaged Barbie dolls while on a trip to the flea market. The narrator acknowledges the flaws of the Barbies, but counters the stereotypical “perfect” woman standards by implying her gratefulness of possessing any dolls at all. Through this struggle, the girl learns to cope with her burdened lifestyle while also encountering gender roles and values. Cisneros wrote this story in relation to her own childhood, motivated by the social standards of gender roles and body image in relation to the Barbie doll.…

    • 2052 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A Hero's Journey Essay

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Many of us like to prepare and be in control. To know what to expect. Christmas is a story of the unexpected. The unexpected love of a compassionate God who dwells among His people to render salvation and bring Hope to all…

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Hearts of Veterans is a non-profit organization that provides support to disadvantaged veterans with the support of fellow veterans. Our mission is to inspire and encourage all veterans in reaching their potential by providing no-cost, professional assistance in obtaining benefits and services. We want to make a difference in the lives of veterans living in our surrounding communities. Brightening the lives of our veterans and giving them hope and understanding is the foundation of our Outreach Projects. The Hearts of Veterans Outreach program coordinates with other Veterans Assistance organizations to enhance the lives of military veterans and their families.…

    • 275 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    If Barbie was marketed to boys under five, boys that had not yet formed full societal stereotypes, perhaps they would treat the dolls relatively similar to how they do their other dolls. But if you gave a Barbie to an adult man and asked him to “play” with it, it would probably seem perverse to do so. However, “playing” with this plastic representation of womanhood, fixed in her identity, is symbolically…

    • 1400 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Volunteering at the homeless shelter is one of my favorite things to do. A few weeks ago, on a serene Saturday morning, my family and I volunteered at Loaves and Fishes. It was special to see just the sheer amount of people who had come out to volunteer on that Saturday. If you think about, they could’ve been doing anything on that Saturday morning. Yet, they decided to help give back to their community.…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    A community event that gives me great pleasure is The Salvation Army Christmas Dinner. Over the years I sign up for one hour shift, which is a standard shift, and end up staying for the day. To me, it is more than just the honor to serve a meal to those less fortunate; it is to be an ear for them to tell a joke, to be the smiling face or to give a hug to send them on their way. So quickly our lives can change and any one of us could be in the same situation. Being in that environment reconfirms my belief that everyone’s story is different and we cannot judge based upon an outer appearance or a person’s current situation.…

    • 124 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I feel as though I say the same every year, which in itself is something to be thankful for, as well as the ability, privilege, and awareness to do so, but yet again I just wanted to say that I’m thankful this year for kind and supportive friends and family, their continued well-being and health as well as mine, and just how lucky I am to have be born with the opportunities and circumstances afforded to me. Its easy to look around you and in today’s media and feel a sense of ___, but I urge us all to challenge ourselves to not just feel __ but to treat our neighbors near and far with compassion especially in the coming holiday season, whether through donation or just a few well-placed kind words. So reach out today to those you are thankful…

    • 164 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays