The young girl came bouncing into
the world with a sunny disposition and a quick smile on her face. She tried so hard to please others, especially
her father but she never quite measured up. She went out of her way to do more than he asked but it was never
quite enough. He told her repeatedly that she wasn't smart enough, cute enough, skinny enough or good enough.
She had a sister who was all the things she could never be and her father never let her forget that.
She quickly learned to hide her feelings and not let others see the constant hurt and pain. As time went by,
she learned to do for others, to get the approval and love, she lacked from her father.
She learned that a friend was the one to give, not receive, because to receive often meant rejection.
As she grew older and matured, she tried harder and harder to gain a father's love that would never be.
Try though she might, she found that love must be given freely, from the heart. She learned to love, but ever
so cautiously, because love usually meant rejection and pain. She gradually built a wall to protect herself and
save herself, to keep the world from seeing her pain. She tried so desperately to make him love her, tilll the
day he died and finally she realized that it would never happen and she had to let her dreams go. It hurt but it
managed to finally close a chapter in her life.
This story is true, and there is a lesson to be learned. Love your child with all your heart. Teach your child
that though everyone has faults, it doesn't mean you are unloveable. No matter who the child is, or the adult,
for that matter, they need love. Be the kind of person who gives love...to the special needs child, to the
homeless person, to the single mother, to the boy in constant trouble. They all need your love and the love
you give CAN make a difference in their life. You will find that you are the one whose life is enriched by the
love you have given.