Story Contest 2016 #2 - Outstanding Stories » Be Good To Our Enemies

“Be Good To Our Enemies” is one of the outstanding stories of the second biannual Short Story Contest 2016 written by Aditya Kharat, India.

Be Good To Our Enemies

Sagar was a well-behaved boy who was liked by everyone who knew him. He was good in studies, and was kind to everyone.

However, Sagar’s popularity made a few other boys jealous of him. One of these boys was Tanmay, who was Sagar’s classmate. Unlike Sagar, 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 Sagar. He always tried to put Sagar down and belittled him before other kids in the class. But no matter what he did, Sagar’s grades kept getting better and better. Whether in studies, in sports, or from his classmates, Sagar kept getting accolades.

On his eight birthday, Sagar got a nice pen as a gift from his parents. He took it to school so that he could use it to take down notes of the lectures that the teacher gave in class. It was a very beautiful pen and it could help one write very fast. When Tanmay saw it, he was very jealous of Sagar. He asked Sagar,

‘Hey, from where did you get that? Did you buy it?’

‘My parents gave it as a birthday gift to me,’ replied Sagar.

Tanmay was filled with anger and jealousy. He rarely got any present from his parents. He decided to steal Sagar’s pen.

During recess, when everyone had gone out from the class, Tanmay opened Sagar’s bag and took out his pen. Then he hid it inside his bag.

When Sagar 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 monitor to search the bag of every child in class. The missing pen was soon found in Tanmay’s bag, and the furious teacher asked the errant boy,

‘Now Tanmay, what do you have to say about it?’

Tanmay was in tears. He had nothing to say.

When Sagar saw Tanmay crying, 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 Tanmay now that his stolen pen was found.

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

Despite being hurt by Tanmay, Sagar gave him only love in return.

This is how we should also treat our enemies. Who knows? One day, our behaviour may just change them for the better.

MORAL: Do not harm someone even if he harms you.