See Also:
Beginning of a FAMOUS Hero: The Diego Rivera Story.
Life Lesson #33 – Don’t Limit Your Options.
Danny’s best friend was Marcos. Marcos and his family had come from Mexico and moved in down the street from Danny’s family a few months ago. Marcos and his dad knew quite a bit of English, but his mom and his little sister spoke only Spanish. Marcos was the best soccer player Danny had ever known, and the boys played during recess and at home after school.
One morning when Danny walked into the classroom, he noticed that a boy in the back was holding a piece of paper and trying to read it. Several boys were laughing at Marcos. It didn’t take Danny long to figure out that Marcos had brought a note for the teacher from his mother. The school had plenty of Spanish speaking teachers so there would be no problem knowing what the note said. But when Marcos took the note out of his backpack and laid it on his desk, this boy who was known as a trouble-maker grabbed the note and passed it around. The boys were all taking turns trying to read the note and laughing at how funny they thought the words sounded.
Marcos was just sitting there feeling embarrassed while the boys made fun of him and his family. That’s when Danny grabbed the note from one of the guys. “Why do you have to act like jerks?” he asked them angrily. One boy said, “Well, why can’t his momma write a note somebody could read?” And then they all laughed some more. Danny handed the note back to Marcos and looked the other boys right in the eye. “Somebody smart enough to know two languages could read it. Somebody like Marcos. Now, leave him alone.”
Marcos felt a lot better, and Danny became a HERO.
– Jim Lord