The Story of Ming
By Lee Lee Cross


There was a big quiet village in China. A girl named Ming lived there with her family. She was eleven years old. She had two older brothers who were always getting into mischief. Her parents let her do more things than her brothers. Her parents thought that Ming was special.


One day she asked her parents if she could go to her friend's house. Her parents said, "Yes." When she got to her friend's house, there was a large group of kids there. They were just chatting when another girl named Ling walked by. Ling was not part of Ming's cool group. Some of the kids called Ling over and started to make fun of her because of what she looked like. She wore glasses and old clothes. Ming felt like she had to be mean to her also because she wanted to be cool. But it made her feel terrible.


When Ming went home she told her parents about what had happened that day. Her parents said, " There is a Chinese proverb that says: A wise person makes her own decisions. A weak one obeys others."


The next morning she called a meeting of her friends and she told them what her parents said. So she said, "I am going to apologize to Ling and be her friend." Her friends started to follow and soon they all came along with Ming to Ling's house to apologize. When they got to Ling's house and apologized, Ling felt happy and so did Ming.

 

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