Lessons From A 5-Year-Old
Instead of finding stories as most reporters do, CBS News Correspondent Steve Hartman uses a highly sophisticated piece of newsgathering equipment: a dart. He asks a person on the street to throw a dart at a map to help him choose where he'll go next in search of a story. Once there, he picks a subject at random from the phone book. The premise is that "Everybody Has a Story." This time he travels to Fentress County, Tenn.
In the foothills of the Great Smokey Mountains, 5-year-old Tray Pyles answers the phone.
Tray is just at the age where he can't sit still, no matter where he is. As he jumps up and down the church pew, he asks, "Mom, is it almost over?"
He has a like-minded brother, appropriately named Chase, who walks up and down the aisle. And a mom and dad who try and keep up.
After church and a quick drink from the falling rain, Tray likes to eat muffins the size of Montana.
He's still working on the finer points of soccer and tee ball but already excels at Nintendo and English as a second language.
After saying some of his own gibberish words, he declares, "I'm the bestest."
But what he's really best at is kindness. Every few weeks, Tray likes to give balloons to his grandmother.
Of course, a lot of kids like to give their grandmother presents, but what's special about Tray is that he still does after she passed away.
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Tray used to see his grandmother almost every day. He was 2 when she died, and yet he clearly still remembers her.
"I never say, 'Let's do this.' It's always him saying, 'I want to give my Mammy a balloon,'" explains Lindy Pyles.
And when asked if he could show how to give a balloon to someone who's not here anymore, he obliged. But he didn't ask to go to the cemetery.
Because his way of thinking is: Why tie it to a tombstone when she's not even there? Why not bring it to a pretty place and let her catch it?
As Tray let his balloon go and watched it disappear into his grandma's arms, he illustrated a point:
Faith is where you find it, and there's a lot more to religion than just sitting up straight on Sundays.
After that Tray throws the dart to guide next week's journey. "Louisiana" he says.
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