School is not just about learning to read, write and
count. Other valuable lessons can be learned, such as respect and good
treatment of others.
Unfortunately, bullying remains a pervasive issue
across countless schools. But we must never accept that. Through awareness and
education, we can give students something to think about.
This is exactly what the teacher in this fictional
story decided to do one day.
She instructed her students to carry out a simple
exercise that initially sounded crazy.
The kids were told to write down the names of
classmates that they hated, but nobody expected what the teacher would do
next...
All I can say is, what an important message and clever
way to deliver it!
A teacher asked her students to bring some tomatoes in
a plastic bag to school. Each tomato was to be given the name of a person whom
that child hates. So, the number of tomatoes would be equal to the number of
persons they hate.
On a pre-determined day, the children brought their
tomatoes well addressed. Some had two, some had three and some had five, some
even had 20 tomatoes in accordance with the number of people they hated.
The teacher then told them they had to carry the
tomatoes with them everywhere they go for two weeks. As the days passed the
children started to complain about the decay and smell of the tomatoes. The
students who had many tomatoes complained it was very heavy to carry and the smell
was too much.
After a week, the teacher asked the students “How did
you feel this week?”
The children complained of the awful smell and heavy
weight of the tomatoes, especially those who carried several tomatoes.
The teacher said, “This is very similar to what you
carry in your heart when you don’t like some people. Hatred makes the heart
unhealthy and you carry that hatred everywhere. If you can’t bear the smell of
spoilt tomatoes for a week, imagine the impact of bitterness on your heart as
you carry it daily.”
The heart is a beautiful garden that needs regular
cleaning of unwanted weeds. Forgive those who have angered you. This makes room
for storing good things.
Get Better, Not Bitter!
Please share if you agree with the message
in this story!
This post was republished
from en.newsner.com You can find the original post here.