Puskar embodied Cinderella’s ‘have courage, be kind’

Betty Puskar was a true Cinderella story.

Not so much in the rags-to-riches sense. Certainly not in the despised-stepchild-to-beloved-princess sense.

What Betty Puskar and the fairytale princess had in common were their hearts of gold.

The refrain from Disney’s 2015 live-action Cinderella was “have courage and be kind.” One could almost wonder if the screenwriters had met Betty when they came up with that. Betty faced down metastatic breast cancer with unimaginable courage. (Which, to quote Nelson Mandela, is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.) But more importantly, even as she struggled, Betty was always kind.

It takes a special person to realize what advantages their privilege has given them. Betty’s ex-husband Milan “Mike” Puskar could afford to send her to Texas for the best treatments, and when she could no longer make the trip, he had the treatment brought to her.

It takes a very special person to extend those opportunities to others. Betty realized how lucky she was to be able to afford the best treatments — and the flights and the chartered planes. And she realized there were other women suffering just like her who couldn’t afford those things. So she spearheaded the project to bring the best breast cancer treatments to everyone in West Virginia. And now we have a specialized cancer center that rightfully bears her name.

To have such kindness, such empathy is an amazing thing. The world’s a little less bright without Betty Puskar in it.

But we hope her legacy of courage and kindness will inspire others.

There are several lessons we can learn from Betty’s life: When you have wealth to spare, share. We wish more wealthy citizens would follow her example. To quote Andrew Carnegie — famously philanthropic, but by no means a saint — the rich have “a moral obligation to distribute [their money] in ways that promote the welfare and happiness of the common man.” Carnegie didn’t believe in handouts, but he did believe the wealthy had a duty to leave the world a better place than they found it. Betty knew she had more than enough money, so she contributed resources — and time — to creating services that will benefit our community for decades to come.

But for those of us not rolling in dough, there’s a reminder here to give what we can, when we can. We may not have money to spare, but perhaps we have time we can give or resources we can share.

Here’s a lesson we can all learn from Betty, regardless of our economic status: Kindness costs us nothing. Betty’s grandson told The Dominion Post that his grandmother used to go to the longest checkout line in the grocery store so she could talk to more people. The smallest interactions can impact a person’s whole day. Taking the time to smile at a stranger or wish someone a good day has no monetary value but is priceless all the same.