By Sally Ann Houston

There once was a child who loved all things. She saw beauty in everyone but the people around her only saw ugliness. They could only hate. The child asked them why this was so?

“Is love so evil?” she asked. “Why are you so afraid of being kind?” However, the people around her would not listen to her. “ CHILDREN SHOULD BE SEEN AND NOT HEARD!” That is what they believed.

This confused the child and it made her very sad. It seemed to her that everything she thought was beautiful, a warm smile or a loving touch, a friendly face or an encouraging word, the simplest things that made life that much easier, brought only ridicule and prosecution from those around her. “Why do you act this way?” She asked them.” Is love so wrong, Kindness so sinful?”

“Foolish, foolish child.” They replied. “You are only a child, an ignorant child. Do you really think people care!? There is no such thing as love! Only hate, hate, and prejudice! People will only hurt you. They care only for themselves. That is what you must do. Do not try to help them. They will only use you. They do not care, Of course, you are only a foolish child. You do not understand but you will learn. eventually, you will learn.

So the child did learn. She learned not to love but to hate and to care only for herself. She learned to take and not give and she learned to teach as she was taught.