See Also:
Beginning of a FAMOUS Hero: The Barbara Jordan Story.
Life Lesson #66 – Credibility is valuable.
Melody played the flute in the school band. Sometimes she was first chair, and sometimes second, but always she was a good flute player. One day, two of her friends thought it would be funny to hide pieces of her flute in different places around the band room. When Melody figured out what had happened, she frantically went searching for the parts of her flute while the other girls laughed. Finally, just as she spotted one of the parts, one of the other girls grabbed it, and started playing keep-away with it!
That’s when Mr. Harding, the band director came in unexpectedly. “What in the world is going on in here?” he said, knowing full well what was happening. “We’re just having a little fun,” said one of the girls. Well, the fact that Melody was starting to cry told Mr. Harding it was not fun for everybody. “Is that part of Melody’s flute?” he asked. “Yes, sir,” they said.
“Then carefully give it to her—and give her the rest of it, as well.”
After that, Mr. Harding began explaining to the girls that he was surprised because he knew the three girls were close friends. He said to two of them, “Why would you treat another person this way—ESPECIALLY one of your own friends?!” Neither of the girls could come up with a good answer.
Then Mr. Harding continued by asking the girls if it would hurt their feelings if someone had done that to them. Of course, they answered “yes,” and then they all explored ideas about HELPING instead of hurting. They finally understood—there’s always a choice, and the choice to HELP someone is always better than the choice to hurt them.
– Jim Lord