A Lesson & Friends For Life

"Smith is a fatso, Smith fatso, fatso!”

All the classmates of Smith were very cruel to him. They used to mimic, tease and taunt him about his weight. But Smith never reacted to anyone.

One Friday, Smith was playing football during the sports class. The game was intense and just a few minutes left in the game but there was a tie in the score. When Smith was near the net, a team member rolled the ball over to him. Smith tried his best to score the goal but missed somehow. The game was over and Smith's team lost.

Peter frowned at Smith saying, "How could you be so irresponsible, Smith?"

Irresponsible! Smith's eyes were full of tears.

A week ago, his teacher had told him that he was irresponsible for being late to class. Just a few days ago, his mother had used the word 'irresponsible' when she scolded him for not hanging out his clothes.

That awful word 'irresponsible' kept repeating through Smith's mind.

Smith sat near Peter for Art class. Someone pushed Smith and he fell on Peter who hit his foot quite badly against the desk. The boy who pushed Smith onto Peter blamed Smith for everything. When the whole class was watching, Peter was stimulated either to pick a fight with Smith or to ignore it.

Peter shouted, "C'mon Smith, lets fight!" Smith responded, "I didn't fall down myself" but his other classmates pushed him into the fight. Peter punched on Smith's face and he fell down on the ground. The whole class laughed a lot on Smith.

Just then, the teacher walked into the classroom and saw Peter and Smith fighting. He frowned "I want both of you to go out on the ground and run one mile holding each others hands". Both Smith and Peter were embarrassed but they had no choice. They went on the ground to run one mile as the way teacher said.

At some point during the course of their run, Smith said, " I'm sorry Peter for losing the game today because of my mistake." The bruise from the punch was still fresh on Smith's face and his heavy weight was making him slow in running. At that point, Peter realized his mistake. He was the one who blamed Smith for losing the game and started the fight. He was the one who hurt Smith. Yet Smith never hurt him back either by words or action.

Peter looked at Smith and it struck him that Smith was a kind of human being who had inner values and worth far beyond any external looks.

Peter said with tears in his eyes, "Don't be sorry Smith, it was my mistake and I apologize. It was a team play and no single person is responsible for winning or losing. Besides we were playing for fun, neither to win nor to lose. I am very sorry for blaming and hurting you."

Peter and Smith became good friends for life. It was an amazing lesson for Peter who learned during the punishment of hand-in-hand running with Smith just for one mile.

Power of speech arises when one doesn't use even a single word to make fun of others. Anyone will only tease you as long as it affects you. When you speak, choose your words wisely. You can never take them back. A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Have you lost anyone dear in your life due to the harsh words you have exchanged? This is your time to correct your mistakes. You never known they might be missing you too !