Rachel Beckwith

The AWOD for today didn't live long enough to be technically deemed a woman.  She only lived 9 years and what I am posting came from a Kristoff column last week.  He tells her story much better than I could, and it moved me tremendously:

Rachel’s Last Fund-Raiser

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Published: August 10, 2011

Perhaps every generation of geezers since Adam and Eve has whined about young people, and today is no different. Isn’t it clear that in contrast to our glorious selves, kids these days are self-absorbed Facebook junkies just a pixel deep?

No, actually that’s wrong at every level. This has been a depressing time to watch today’s “adults,” whose talent for self-absorption and political paralysis makes it difficult to solve big problems. But many young people haven’t yet learned to be cynical. They believe, in a wonderfully earnest way, in creating a better world.

In the midst of this grim summer, my faith in humanity has been restored by the saga of Rachel Beckwith. She could teach my generation a great deal about maturity and unselfishness — even though she’s just 9 years old, or was when she died on July 23.

Read the rest of Kristoff's post