Farm Life

Hi there! My name is Olivia. I am one of many cows that live on the Friendly Farm. All the animals and the people are so nice. It’s a way of life here. Not just on the farm but in the city too. I know because my friend, Maria, tells me.

Maria is a girl that lives in the house. She comes out to the barn to see me every morning before the sun even comes up then she comes back every evening and stays a long time. She tells me stories about her life in the house with her family and about her days at school. She tells me that one day she will have to move away from the farm to go to another school. She says she will miss me, but she is looking forward to being away from the mean boy at her school. She has never said his name, but she said he is mean to all the other kids.

I don’t know what would make a human be mean. But I know what makes animals be mean. All the animals here are all very nice except one. It is a bull named Fighter. He is mean to all the humans and animals on the farm.

One day, it was raining a lot, so all the animals took cover in the barn, including Fighter. He butted all the other animals out of his way. He even poked me with his horns. It hurt but I didn’t let him know it. I just smiled and said “Oh, excuse me, Fighter.” in my friendliest voice. He looked at me and said, “There’s no excuse for you, ugly.” That hurt my feelings. I didn’t understand why he would call me ugly. We don’t look that much different; except he is much bigger and has horns. I didn’t dare let him know he was hurting my feelings, so I just said, “Oh that’s not how my name is pronounced. It’s Olivia, O-l-i-v-i-a.” He just snorted, pawed at the ground, and walked away.

I wanted to understand why Fighter went around being mean to everyone on the farm, so I decided to follow him around and see if I could get him to talk to me. It took several days but he finally gave in. He explained that being the only bull on the farm is very lonely. He admits that deep down, he is afraid of being rejected. He doesn’t like being different from all the other animals. He says he calls me ugly because he feels like he is ugly. He doesn’t really want to be mean, but he thinks that’s what everyone expects of him, so he goes along with it. He said if he can never be the best, he might as well be the worst. He thinks he can’t fit in with the nice animals, so he is going to be mean.

I explained to him that being kind is a choice. It doesn’t just happen all on its own. When he called me ugly, I wanted to say mean things back to him, but I didn’t. I decided to be nice instead. And it worked.

Now Fighter and I are friends. He is still gruff and snorts really loud when other animals come near to him, but he doesn’t poke any of us with his horns anymore. He is trying to be a kinder, gentler bull.

Even Maria has noticed that Fighter doesn’t charge toward her like he used to. He even lets her get close enough to check his trough now.

I don’t know what ever happened to the mean boy at Maria’s school, but I sure hope he learns, like Fighter did, that being nice is a good choice and it will help him not be so lonely in the end.