The Ballad of Little Miss No Name

We see them every day.

We see them on television commercials.  We see them pictured in charity mailings.  We see them standing next to Sally Struthers.  Sometimes, we even see them in real life.

I’m talking, of course, about the disadvantaged: people who have less than you.

What makes you pass by?  What makes you throw those “Save the Children” mailings into the wastebasket, perhaps even after you’ve removed the complimentary personalized return-address labels for your selfish use?  What has blocked your natural instinct for empathy toward the less fortunate?

It isn’t too late to change.  And I’m suggesting a solution: a special someone dressed in rags, a single tear emerging from her left eye -- who is so bereft she doesn’t even have a name.  She could change your life.

She changed the life of a man named Bixby.  But more on him later.

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I was surfing the web for information on a 70’s “fashion doll” I’d seen in a book.  She had big round eyes, and looked a bit scary, but cute.  I couldn’t remember her name, so I entered “big round eyes scary doll” into a search engine.

The doll I was looking for was “Blythe,” introduced by Kenner in 1972 and discontinued shortly after.

Amongst my search results for "big round eyes scary doll," I noticed a reference to another doll, which a webpage labeled “the depressing Little Miss No Name doll.” 

It's funny how some of the most important things in life happen in the margins, by happenstance.  I clicked on the link and fell in love.