HAVING EMPATHY by

One fine day I was in the park having a good time with my best friend Alex, we were swinging and dangling on trees and having loads of fun. While we were having our good time an impecunious boy with filthy, unwashed clothes came near us and started to frisk and frolic cheerfully. My wealthy friend got surprised and told me “look at that filthy kid, I wonder how is he so cheerful when we consider his circumstances.” Alex started to make faces. The boy saw Alex and ignored him even though he was making rude faces.

After a while my best friend and I got tired headed towards the corner shop to purchase two cold drinks. We each bought a coke. After we drank the drinks, we were energized. We decided to race back to the park. When we reached the park, we found the boy still frisking cheerfully, he was playing on the swings going down slides and playing on everything in the park. Alex, as usual started backbiting the little boy.

This continued for several days. One windy day, the boy was lonely because none of his friends had come to the park. My best friend and i always went to the park, no matter the weather:whether there was a storm, a blizzard or the temperature was 50 degrees, we would reach the park exactly at 5:00pm

The boy too came to the park that day. With no one to play with, the boy approached us. The moment he started walking towards us, Alex got disgusted and uttered “Why is he coming towards us, I hope he doesn’t ask us to play with him because his filthy middle-class friends have not come today”. I replied “Let’s see. You can react after he reaches us”. Alex agreed. The little boy came shivering, and addressed us anxiously because he knew Alex did not like him. He nervously asked us “May I play with you guys?”. As you can guess Alex’s answer was “No!” . Alex proudly said “No, I don’t play with muddy, impure people like you, shoo! Go away!”. These words truly wounded the boy’s heart and offended his feelings. The little boy began to whimper . I could not stand someone crying in front of me, so I tried hard to comfort the little boy,but unfortunately,did not succeed.

I got furious with Alex and scolded him “Why did you have to react and address the boy in that manner? Imagine yourself in his place.”.My friend told me to calm down and then speak to him. I took a couple deep breaths just as my mom had taught me, and relaxed. Then I went on, “Okay, imagine if you were in his place and you too didn’t have so much wealth, such immaculate clothes and someone rejected you, just like you rejected the boy. How would you react? How would you feel? You were talking about his friends, you called them ‘middle class’, what about me I am middle class too.” Alex thought about it deeply, and apologized.

We lived in harmony after that day.