Sacred Cow

I can't remember if I've blogged about this story before, but I just thought of it and felt like sharing it, because it shows the impact of a caring, selfless gesture.

It was 8th grade, and our class went on a field trip to the Boston Museum of Science. Which, as any good museum field trip does, ended in the gift shop.

At the time I was very into holstein cows. And there, in the gift shop, was a beanie baby cow. I thought it was so cute, and I really wanted it. But I didn't have any money. (My mom wasn't the type to give me money to spend in over-priced gift shops...)

There was this guy named C.J. in my class, a very nice guy who in high school went on to be a great class president and I'm sure is up to wonderful things now. He had $20 to spend, and he'd picked out a big glow-in-the-dark ball and one other item that together added up to $20. But when he saw my plight, he put back his glow-in-the-dark ball and spent some of his money to buy me the cow.

It wasn't a romantic gesture or anything. Just a nice thing from a friend who saw how much I wanted that cow.

C.J. could've bought that glow-in-the-dark ball and ignored my wants, and no one would've blamed him. It's not like I was starving and needed food. It was just a silly cow. But he selflessly disregarded his own wants to put me first.

Fifteen years later, I still have that cow. Would he have kept a giant ball all these years? Probably not. Fifteen years later, had he done the selfish thing, no one would've cared one way or the other. But he did the selfless thing—a rare decision for a middle school boy. And fifteen years later, I still think back on that incident often and am reminded to put others first. You never know what kind of lifelong impact you can make by buying someone a beanie baby cow.