Caution: This Video WILL Make You Smile

Last week, 12-year-old Ian McMillan went with his friends to an Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game in Phoenix. During the game, a player tossed a baseball into the stands and Ian ran to catch it. It's every boy's dream, to leave a game with a real, bonafide MLB baseball, and for Ian it was coming true!

He grabbed the ball and danced his way back to his seat, thrilled with his prized souvenir. But then, as he celebrated, he noticed a little boy crying into his mom's lap, devastated that he hadn't got the ball. The boy was wearing the opposing team's cap - Milwaukee Brewers - and was heartbroken at his missed opportunity.

So Ian thought for only a moment, skipped down the steps to the crying boy and gave him the ball.

And it was all caught on camera. Ian said later that within the next hour he received 70 text messages and phone calls from friends who had witnessed it all on TV. And now, Ian McMillan, a little boy with a giant heart, is famous!

He doesn't have the baseball, he gave that away. But he does have a whole lot more than that. The Diamondbacks organization invited Ian up to the broadcast booth and presented him with a Justin Upton signed baseball bat. Then they gave him his own Diamondbacks jersey and invited him to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the next game.

They held a press conference and got to know this kid and his big smile. He probably got more memorabilia than he can carry, shook hands and joked around with Diamondback stars and got to go where no boy even dreams of going: into the dugout and onto the field!

And all because he felt that the other boy's happiness was more important than his own.

Did he know the world was watching? More importantly, did he know the Diamondbacks were watching and he would get FAR more than he gave? No, no and no.

And the message to us hits home. Goodness at its best is goodness for its own sake. But it doesn't hurt to remember that the Director in Heaven has even more "cameras" than ABC-TV and doesn't miss a thing. Every move we make is "caught on tape" and every Mitzvah and every act of kindness is noticed by a power that gives us back FAR more than we give away.

We need only learn from Ian and feel others' anguish more acutely than our own.

So to Ian and his parents (who raised a good-hearted child) I say, "Way to go!"

To ABC-TV I say, "Good catch!"

To the Diamondbacks organization I say, "More power to you for celebrating goodness and kindness with class!"

And to myself I say, "The ball is in your hands now. Do the right thing!"

We are always on Camera, are we not?

*****

As a practical suggestion, it would be a great thing if every child (and grown-up) had a personal charity box. Teach kids to drop a few coins into the box regularly, and have him or her deliver it to a charity when it's full.

Accustom the child to give with a whole heart and with joy. Tell 'em to be like Ian. And practice will make perfect.