-------- from Facebook
A man name Bob May, depressed and brokenhearted, stared out his drafty
apartment window into the chilling December night. His 4-year-old
daughter Barbara sat on his lap quietly sobbing. Bob's wife, Evelyn, was
dying of cancer. Little Barbara couldn't understand why her mommy could
never come home. Barbara looked up into her dad's eyes and asked,
"Why isn't Mommy just like everybody else's Mommy?" Bob's jaw
tightened and his eyes welled with tears. Her question brought waves of grief, but also of anger. It had been the story of Bob's life.
Life always had to be different
for Bob. Small when he was a kid, Bob was often bullied by other boys.
He was too little at the time to compete in sports. He was often called
names he'd rather not remember. From childhood, Bob was different and
never seemed to fit in. Bob did complete college, married his
loving wife and was grateful to get his job as a copywriter at
Montgomery Ward during the Great Depression. Then he was blessed with
his little girl. But it was all short-lived. Evelyn's bout with cancer
stripped them of all their savings and now Bob and his daughter were
forced to live in a two-room apartment in the Chicago slums. Evelyn died
just days before Christmas in 1938.
Bob struggled to give hope to his child, for whom he couldn't even afford to buy a Christmas gift.But if he couldn't buy a gift, he was determined to make one - a
storybook! Bob had created an animal character in his own mind and told
the animal's story to little Barbara to give her comfort and hope.
Again and again Bob told the story, embellishing it more with each
telling. Who was the character? What was the story all about? The
story Bob May created was his own autobiography in fable form. The
character he created was a misfit outcast like he was. The name of the
character? A little reindeer named Rudolph, with a big shiny nose. Bob
finished the book just in time to give it to his little girl on
Christmas Day.
But the story doesn't end there…
The general
manager of Montgomery Ward caught wind of the little storybook and
offered Bob May a nominal fee to purchase the rights to print the book.
Wards went on to print, “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and distribute
it to children visiting Santa Claus in their stores. By 1946 Wards had
printed and distributed more than six million copies of Rudolph. That
same year, a major publisher wanted to purchase the rights from Wards to
print an updated version of the book. In an unprecedented gesture of
kindness, the CEO of Wards returned all rights back to Bob May. The book
became a best seller. Many toy and marketing deals followed and Bob
May, now remarried with a growing family, became wealthy from the story
he created to comfort his grieving daughter.
But the story doesn't end there either…
Bob's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, made a song adaptation to Rudolph.
Though the song was turned down by such popular vocalists as Bing Crosby
and Dinah Shore , it was recorded by the singing cowboy, Gene Autry. "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was released in 1949 and became a
phenomenal success, selling more records than any other Christmas
song, with the exception of "White Christmas."
The gift of love that Bob May created for his daughter so long ago kept on returning back to bless him again and again. And Bob May learned the lesson, just
like his dear friend Rudolph, that being different isn't so bad. In
fact, being different can be a blessing. MERRY CHRISTMAS
No comments:
Post a Comment