Thursday's Thoughts

The Real Story Of Rudolph

Bob May, depressed and broken hearted, 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 looked up into her father’s eyes and asked, "Why isn't Mommy just like everybody else's Mommy?" her question brought waves of grief, but also of anger. It had been the story of Bob's life. Life always had been difficult for Bob. He was a small child and often bullied and called names he'd rather not remember.

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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 a make one - a storybook!

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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.

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Bob finished the book just in time to give it to his little girl on Christmas Day. The general manager of Montgomery Ward, where Bob worked, caught wind of the little storybook and offered Bob a small 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 purchased 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 to Bob May. The book became a national best seller. Many toy and marketing deals followed and Bob May, now remarried to a wonderful woman and step-mother to his daughter Barbara, became wealthy from the story he created to comfort his grieving daughter.

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The gift of love that Bob May created for his daughter so long ago kept on returning 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!

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-Author Unknown