A Lesson Well Learned

"Which mask should I put on today," the young child asked her mom. "An ugly troll, a cheerful gnome, or fairy full of charm?" Her mother turned from cleaning up and signed with pure frustration. "Hurry up, you'll miss the bus and have no transportation."

Returning home from school that day she could barely wait to say, she won the prize for best costume and aced her English essay. She first approached her dad to tell him all that had transpired, but soon he wearied of her chatter and told her he's too tired.

Not yet deflated she pressed on and sought to find her mother, but she was busy, and with one sharp look, the child knew not to bother. The young girl turned to hide her tears with one quick steady motion, and so began her sole life's mission to cover her emotion.

As each year passed and the child grew older, she was viewed as rude and getting colder. Her parents complained she didn't excel, the school kept threatening to expel.

"How did things happen to get so bad, what became of the sweet child we always thought we had?" And as they lay awake at nights, their ponders often turned to fights.

As each placed the onus on the other, the truth their shifting blame would cover. For they never stopped to fully see, what 'lack of time's' effect can be.

Until one day to the child's surprise, a teacher gave her sound advice. The teacher said, "Child listen closely, I'll say this once and one time only."

"If you continue on this path, if you ignore your inner wrath, if you seek attention at others expense, the following will be your recompense.

"You will experience throughout your life, unnecessary heartache, sadness, and strife. Unfortunately, there it will not end, for it will be hard to find a true loyal friend.

"Oh sure, there will be those that hang around, the very same ones that will bring you down. Perhaps, it will be then that you will find, just how this short life can be truly unkind.

"I say this to you with the best intention, for I think it's high time for an intervention. For one time in your shoes I stood, understanding my problems, I felt no one could.

"So, I found myself often acting out, my frustrated anger took a treacherous route. 'Til one day my teacher took me aside, and as I do now, she too prophesied.

"She told all that would to me occur, if my behavior her counsel would not deter. It was then that I realized what I must do, and I decided to restart my life anew.

"So, please heed the words that I now impart, and do take my counsel ever close to heart. Don't wait 'til you find it far far to late, to reroute the path of a very dire fate?"

And before she could utter another sage word, the child's bitter tears indicated she had heard. And as she hung her head in shame, all excuses came up far too lame.

Then struggling with a tear filled voice, the young girl said she had made a choice. No longer would she choose to make, the choices obviously a huge mistake.

And so began the girl's new life mission, to put her misconduct in total remission. Her parents immediately saw the change, "What caused her behavior to rearrange,

The rudeness and temper we came to know, as a personality flaw that at any time could blow?" And as their quiet questions became more intense, The change in their daughter proved clearly immense.

Soon the discussions that transpired at the table, were no longer warlike with emotions unstable. And as their conversations ranged in topic, their daughter they found was quite philanthropic.

She would now manage her schedule to volunteer, where before unpaid work, ask her, they wouldn't dare. Well, eventually the suspense they could no longer mask, and about her transformation they would finally ask.

But her response took them both by utter surprise, as she told them about how her teacher was wise. And as she spoke their eyes shifted and heads heavy hung, for she related what happened when she was very young.

She said it was then that she made up her mind, to hide her emotion and become more unkind. She further explained that she felt they didn't care, causing her much pain for their attention was rare.

Thus began her transformation and long reign of terror, on her family and classmates, which was clearly an error. So the years went by and as the girl grew, she would consistently tell others of what she now knew.

Eventually she married and had kids of her own, and would always remind them of how she had grown. She also refused to let a moment escape, without telling her children of the impact they make,

On her life and the family and those they encounter, striving always to assure them that their presence does matter. So her children grew confident with high self-esteem, thus breaking the negative cycle, as this was her dream.