{"id":6346,"date":"2014-08-22T21:46:30","date_gmt":"2014-08-22T21:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-atra.pantheonsite.io\/?page_id=6346"},"modified":"2022-06-06T18:44:02","modified_gmt":"2022-06-06T18:44:02","slug":"about-shelley","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/amendtheraveact.org\/about-shelley\/","title":{"rendered":"About Shelley"},"content":{"rendered":"
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About Shelley Goldsmith<\/h1>\n
By Dede Goldsmith<\/div>\n

\u201cI always knew that my daughter Shelley was a star. I found out yesterday that she was a shooting star with only a few brief moments to walk the Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Shelley\u2019s Dad, September 1, 2013<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Shelley<\/a><\/p>\n

Shelley was a happy, healthy, academically strong, well-adjusted college student who had just completed the first week of her second year at the University of Virginia (UVA) in Charlottesville, VA. She was a proud young woman full of self-confidence who stood tall for what she believed. As a starry-eyed idealist, she knew with certainty that her education would train her to work for justice in the world. Tikkun olam<\/em> is a Hebrew phrase that I just recently learned. It means repairing or healing the world. Had she known the words, Shelley would have adopted them as her mantra.<\/p>\n

At the age of eight, a month after the bombing of the World Trade Center (which coincidentally happened on her birthday, 9\/11), she wrote the following poem as a reaction to the popular outcry in the US at that time, asking God to bless America:<\/p>\n

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GOD BLESS THE WORLD<\/h3>\n

The World is more than America.
\nThere are a lot of religions in the World and God believes in them all.
\nGod does not just love us; he loves India, Asia and the whole World.
\nGod would not have made the World if he did not believe that we could improve it.
\nEveryone has a goal and mine is to make the World a better place.
\nEveryone is a brother or sister to each other.
\nIt is selfish to think that God just blesses your country.
\nGod bless the World.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Shelley Goldsmith, 2nd grade, age 8<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Needless to say, her Dad and I believed early on that she was destined to do great things.<\/p>\n

Shelley was born on September 11, 1993 and was raised in rural southwest Virginia. She was our only daughter, the younger of two children, and part of a loving family and close-knit community. She excelled academically from the time she started school. She eagerly accepted the concept that if you followed the rules, worked very hard, and respected other people, life would be fair and good.<\/p>\n

\"-1\"<\/a>And, it was for the most part. Shelley did well at almost everything she set her mind to. She was \u2018Clara\u2019 in The Nutcracker when she was only ten years old. In middle school, was chosen to serve on the honors court. She was president of the various student councils that she served on from elementary school through her senior year. She was captain of both the women\u2019s and men\u2019s tennis teams. She led the high-adventure Venture Crew as a junior.<\/p>\n

But, it wasn\u2019t just about being at the top. The motto Shelley embraced at an early age was written by Mahatma Ghandi, \u201cBe the change you wish to see in the world.\u201d She personified that standard, volunteering and helping others, long before \u2018community service\u2019 became the popular thing to do. She was devoted to making the world a better place.<\/p>\n

Here are a few examples of her infinite capacity to help others:<\/p>\n