As the media focus on crude [1] topics [2] leading up to Christmas, they occasionally offer a gift – a tidbit of heartwarming news.
When three-year-old Ariana Smith asked her parents why a sick little girl in a video didn’t have hair, she insisted [3], “Oh, well she can have some of my hair.” Going in for her very first haircut, the toddler from Winterport, Maine donated her hair to a child with medical hair loss Nov. 21 through Locks of Love [4]. Media and celebrities alike latched on to the story of a little girl’s “selfless donation.”
Her father, Josh Smith, explained [3] the story to ABC News. “Ariana happened to be sitting on my lap when a video played showing a little girl who was bald, lying in a hospital bed with tubes in her,” he said. That video came from Extra Life [5], which raises money for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals through video gaming.
Ariana “had been fighting a haircut for a while,” BuzzFeed reported [6], because “[s]he was either too scared of the unknown or too attached to her hair.” But she quickly changed her mind.
“I’d like to think she did it because she had a sort of understanding that she had something another person did not, and it’s the right thing to do,” her father told the outlet.
He posted [7] pictures of her new ‘do to Imgur in a Nov. 29 post that now boasts more than 660,000 views.
"She could be so selfless like that," Smith stressed to ABC. "Her first reaction is ‘How about I give up something that I have so a little girl can feel pretty.'"
In response, the media praised the toddler. ABC’s Nicole Pelletiere admired [3] the ”selfless donation” and “heart that was too big for words” while “World News” anchor David Muir spent a Dec. 2 segment on the “brave girl” with a “lesson for us all tonight about what it means to be America Strong.”
The Huffington Post’s Kimberly Yam wrote [8] on the “benevolent” toddler for her “generosity” and “act of kindness.” Similarly. Fox’s “The Five” co-host Kimberly Guilfoyle covered [9] the “little angel.”
Actress Abigail Breslin retweeted [10] the story. Celebrity Jessica Alba’s company also shared [11] the piece.
— Katie Yoder is Staff Writer, Joe and Betty Anderlik Fellow in Culture and Media at the Media Research Center. Follow Katie Yoder on Twitter. [12]