Being Thankful
One day, it was the Chinese New Year. A girl named Kako, who was ten, was so excited that she ran into her parents' room at the break of dawn. Her parents told her to go back to sleep. She couldn't because she was going to be in the parade. Her costume was out and she was jumping up and down on her parents bed.
Kako was an only child with a mom, dad, grandparents, cousins, uncles, and aunts. They were a rich family - a very rich family. Her mom was 31 and her dad was 33. Her grandmother was 57 and grandfather 60. Her three cousins were eleven, thirteen, and sixteen. The eleven year old was a boy. The thirteen year old was a girl and finally the sixteen year old was a boy. She had three uncles and three aunts. It was a small family, but they loved each other. They had fancy dragons and lanterns up for the holiday and their flag was raised high for the holiday.
In the afternoon she danced in the parade and she was wonderful. Everyone was clapping and loved it. She was one of the best in the parade she even had her own float. She had a red Chinese costume with a pretty hat and fan. Her float was red with dragons running around it.There were lanterns everywhere. Kako was on the top while the kids were on the bottom, but dancing all the same thing.
After the dance, she found her parents and asked, "Mom, dad, can I have 5 yuan, please?"
"Here, have 2 yuan," they said. " We've forgotten our wallets."
Kako had a fit and yelled and cried and made a big scene. Her mom said she was lucky to have at least 2 yuan, which was better than nothing. So she went with her friends and got candy. Her friends had nothing, no money. One friend said, "Wow, you've got lots of money."
Another friend said, "At least you've got some money."
Kako then said to herself, "Something is better than nothing."
That night she felt so bad she went up to her parents and said, "I am sorry mom and dad."
"It's OK," they said, "we understand."
She felt so much better. So she went and played games with her 11 and 13 year old cousins. She played the oldest game in the world. She played Go. Later that night, when they were praying to Buddha before they ate dinner, she said something that meant a lot to Kako.
She said, "Let's be thankful for what we have, at least we have something. Some people have nothing. So just listen to me because I learned the hard way."
From that night on, she was thankful for everything she had. Even the littlest things people take for granted. And that is just what she did.
by Alicia