Be Good To Your Enemies

Long ago, there lived a little boy named Sammy. He was a good boy. He was good in his studies, obedient to his parents, more intelligent than many other boys in his class and kind to everyone. Grown-ups as well as those junior to Sammy loved him very much. But that aroused jealousy in many other boys who longed to be as loved as Sammy.

Now there was another boy named Timmy who studied in the same class as Sammy. Unlike Sammy, he was not good at studies and always liked to play during school hours. He misbehaved with his parents, bullied his classmates and even ill-treated Sammy. He always tried to put Sammy down and belittled him before other kids in the class. But no matter what he did, Sammy's grades kept getting better and better. Whether in studies or in sports or from his classmates, Sammy kept getting accolades from everywhere.

On his eighth birthday, Sammy got a nice pen as a gift from his parents. He brought it to school so that he could use it to take down the notes of the lectures that the teachers gave in class. This was a very beautiful pen and it could help one write very fast. When Timmy saw it, he was very jealous of Sammy. He asked Sammy,

"Hey, where did you get that? Did you buy it?"

"My parents gave it as a birthday gift to me." replied Sammy.

Timmy was overwhelmed with anger and jealousy. The bad boy that he was, he rarely got any present from his parents. He decided to steal Sammy's pen. During recess, when everyone had gone out from the class, Timmy opened Sammy's bag and took out his pen. Then he hid it inside his bag and went out to have his tiffin.

When Sammy came back and could not find his pen, he informed his class teacher about it. There was a hunt for the missing pen and the class teacher ordered the class monitor to search the bag of every children inside the class. The missing pen was soon found out of Timmy's bag and the furious teacher asked the errant boy,

"Now Timmy, what do you have to say about it?"

Timmy was in tears. He had nothing to say.

When Sammy saw Timmy cry, he took pity on the boy. The kind boy that he was, he had no ill-feeling against his classmate. He requested his class teacher not to take any action against Timmy, now that his stolen pen was found.

This opened Timmy's eyes. He could now see what a good boy Sammy was. He asked for forgiveness from his teacher and Sammy. From that day, he became friends with Sammy and gradually changed himself to be as good as Sammy. Everyone began to love Timmy and Sammy was proud of his new friend.

Despite being hurt by Timmy, Sammy gave him back only love in return. This is how we should also treat our enemies. Who knows? One day, our behaviour may just change themselves for the better.

Moral: Do not harm someone even if he harms you. Be good to all.

Once upon a time, there lived a farmer who had a little land. His name was Tuan and he was a very kind and good-natured person. He lived in a hut on his land with his wife and children and earned by selling whatever crops he could produce on his small land.

Tuan loved to help others. Whenever someone fell ill or needed something badly, Tuan was there to help that person. If someone died in the village, Tuan assisted the family members of the deceased person in whichever way he could. If anyone fell ill at night, Tuan was right beside the village doctor to help him prepare the medicines and tend to the sick. There seemed to be none who hated this man. He appeared to be loved by one and all.

But there was one person who hated Tuan with all his heart. He was Juan, a neighbour of Tuan, who lived in the land next to him. A lazy person by nature, Juan hardly put in as much effort to cultivate his land as Tuan did to produce crops in his own. So when the harvest season arrived every year, Juan found that he had very few crops to sell. Tuan on the other hand, earned a handsome profit through the selling of his produces.

One year, Juan could no longer contain his jealousy. Just days before Tuan was to reap his harvest, Juan set fire to his crops at night. Tuan was asleep at this time and it was only the alertness of one of his other neighbours that saved much of his crops from being perished in the deadly flames of the fire that Juan had lighted.

When the flames were doused, Tuan saw which direction the fire had started from. Juan's animosity towards him was unknown to Tuan. But he let the matters rest and decided to take action only if he saw Juan repeating his dastardly act once again.

That year, Tuan managed to sell the rest of his crops at a good price but he could not make much profit for a good part of his produces had been burnt. He had a heavy heart but he did not like to tell anyone about it.

Only days later, Tuan was awakened by the sound of lamentations. He went out to find a crowd beside Juan's hut. He rushed to find that Juan's son had fallen ill. He found that the village doctor was unable to provide a cure to his illness. Tuan knew what he had to do. He untied his own horse and rode it. Then he rushed to the town that was ten miles away and fetched a more experienced doctor who lived there.

This doctor was able to guess the disease correctly and provided an exact cure for it. Within hours, the boy was found to sleep soundly and Tuan went with the doctor to take him back to the town.

A day later, Juan went to Tuan's hut and began to weep bitterly. He confessed to his sins but was surprised when Tuan told him that he knew about it all.

"You knew that I had set fire to your crops? And still you fetched the doctor for my son?" asked the astonished Juan.

Tuan nodded and said, "I did what I knew was right. Could I do wrong just because you had done so?"

Juan stood up and embraced Tuan. Both men were in tears and so were the others who stood by them.

From that day, Juan changed himself. Within a year, he could produce much crops in his land through his hard work. When the others asked him how he had changed so much, he only replied,

"It was the goodness and love of Tuan that transformed me."

Moral: Be nice to your friends. Be nicer to your enemies.

Many many years ago, there lived a dog named Tom. Tom was adopted as a pet in a wealthy household and he was daily showered with nice foods and affections by her mistress Mrs Havisham. All day, Tom lived in a kennel within the compound of the house and he tried his best to guard the home of his mistress. Whenever a thief or a burgler came within the vicinity, Tom would bark as loudly as he could to scare the living daylights out of the culprit. He was the favourite of his mistress. When night fell, he slept on a nice blanket inside his kennel and when day broke he had his food served before him in no time.

But the neighbourhood dogs were not so lucky and they were jealous of Tom's fortune. Now and then, they would bark from outside the gates of Tom's house and utter curses at him. All this disturbed Tom a little, but he would only say,

"Poor fellows, they have to struggle so much for their food while I am so lucky. I must not shout at them and add to their misery."

So he kept quiet and went about his business, turning a deaf ear to their insults.

One day, as he was taking a walk with his mistress, Tom found that some young boys were throwing stones at those same dogs who insulted him. The dogs were cornered and they had nowhere to go. They could in no way avoid being hit by the stones thrown at them. Many of them were bleeding and barking feebly in protest. But the boys were not in a mood to let go of them so lightly. They picked up bigger stones and rocks to have more fun at the expense of the weak, helpless dogs.

Tom could not hold himself back. He was of a strong build and had a very deep voice. He knew that he could scare the boys. He managed to wrench his leash free out of his mistress' hands and he ran towards the boys.

The boys were startled at the terrible barking that Tom directed at them. Their blood froze at the sight of the huge Tom baring his fangs and running towards them. They dropped their rocks and ran away as fast as their legs could carry them.

"Go home" Tom said to his bloodied abusers "no one will disturb you anymore."

He ran back to his mistress who had seen all that Tom did. She patted Tom and praised him for his courage.

That night, Tom's mistress saw a strange sight. The dogs whom Tom had saved in the morning had gathered near the gates of her house. It seemed to her as if they were telling something to her pet.

"Maybe they are thanking Tom for his brave gesture." she thought.

And right she was! From that day, Tom and his abusers had become friends. Tom's kindness had won over his abusers' hatred and he had earned their love, respect and admiration that nothing on earth could buy.

Moral: Be good to all, even if they happen to be your enemies.