“Daddy, let me tell you the difference between want and need,” the BabyGirl said with conviction, hugging the enormous teddy bear in the middle of the COSTCO warehouse. “Want is selfish, when you only think of yourself. Need is when you think of others, not of yourself.”
Stopping to collect her thoughts, she nibbled on her lower lip, fidgeting a bit before continuing.
“Now, this may be really confusing, but I’m going to explain why I was not being selfish at all when I said that I wanted this teddy bear,” the BabyGirl continued. “I know that I just said that want is selfish, but this is a special situation where it’s not selfish. And we were very lucky to be here today to prevent a horrible, cruel thing from continuing to happen.”
“This teddy bear had been shoved into the back of the bottom rack of the stuffies-n-toys aisle over there,” she continued, pointing to the aisle. “And I had to get down on my hands and knees to crawl all the way to the back to get the teddy bear out. No one was ever going to see this teddy bear all the way back there and if no one ever saw this teddy bear, then no one would ever buy him and he would never be able to fulfill his purpose in this world.”
A grin formed on her Daddy’s face. He could see how his BabyGirl had already bonded with the enormous teddy bear. And he knew she had already made the decision, but he stood silent and allowed her to continue to explain the true meanings of want and need.
“Now,” she continued, coming ever-closer to the point. “I realize the practicalities of the size of this teddy bear, but I assure you we will figure it out. The most important thing is very simple.”
She started rocking back and forth on the soles of her feet.
“I, myself, didn’t realize the difference between want and need until the teddy bear explained it to me,” she said, fidgeting tremendously. “You see, when I crawled back there and pulled the teddy bear out, he said thank you to me. And that was very nice of him to say. But then he told me that he needed someone to love and all that was missing was someone who wanted him.”
She stopped rocking back and forth as her fidgeting ceased and her puppy dog eyes came out, gazing up at her Daddy as she began to well up with tears.
“And that was the reason why I told you I wanted him,” she said with a shaky voice. “It’s because he needs me.”
She hugged the teddy bear tightly and turned away, expecting to hear her Daddy say no, followed by some reason she knew she wasn’t going to accept.
“And that is the reason why he’s coming home with us,” her Daddy said without anymore hesitation. “I think his size is perfect for the size of your heart.”
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