Learning Sorrow
by Katie N.
Long ago in the city of Xiamen, there was a girl that went to school. Her name was Little Soo. She had been struggling for a long time to learn and memorize things. Her father and mother were very upset with her.
Finally she gave up, "I'm
through with school. I'm never going back again." When Little
Soo said that her parents knew they have to have a talk with their
daughter.
"Little Soo, honey, we know you have difficult times in school
but that doesn't mean that you have to GIVE UP school," her
mother pleaded.
"But it's hhaarrdd! I
can't understand anything, reading, writhing, or math. It all
just doesn't make sense!" Little Soo argued.
"We know that, we both had the experience. But that doesn't
mean you give up, you have to try harder," her mother explained.
"I can't try any harder!" cried Little Soo.
"I give up." The parents sighed.
That night the parents had a talk in the kitchen, away from Little
Soo. "We have to do something about her," the father
said.
"What if we play a trick
on her! That would teach her to obey her parents and respect her
lessons!"
So Little Soo's mother thought she would teach her a lesson.
A few days later, Soo was lazily doing nothing when she said out
loud, "I love being out of school!"
But there soon came a day when her mother said, "Well you
must do something! Go to the market and buy me three pounds of
rice."
Little Soo went to the market and came to a merchant who was selling
rice. A sign by the rice merchant said, " Ten yen a pound."
Oh no! Little Soo's mother had said three pounds! She bit her
lip, her eyes questioning the merchant. She had not remembered
how to multiply since she had not done it for so long.
"It's thirty yen,"
the merchant said. "You should know that by now!"
Little Soo was so embarrassed. She had embarrassed herself in
front of a whole crowd! Little Soo realized school is important,
even if you grow slowly, and learn slowly. From that day on, Little
Soo always went to school and worked as hard as she could. Her
mother's trick did work! Whatever the cause, always remember,
"Be not afraid of growing slowly. Be only afraid of standing
still."