10．
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One Thursday afternoon, when I
was in Grade 9, a new boy came into my classroom. He was short and thin. He walked up to the teacher and told her, very seriously,
that he was new. His name was Christian. He sat down, took a look at me, and
then looked away. I didn't think he was very nice and I was sure he
wasn't
the type I would like to become friends with.
During
that year, I didn't talk to him much, but he smiled at me when our eyes met,
always shyly. He never ate lunch with anybody, and he never talked to anybody
but me.
But
one day I joined those unkind kids who were making fun of him. We made fun of
him though I thought it was wrong.
"Haven't
you got any friends?" a kid asked Christian, who had walked past us alone, head
down.
"No,
he hasn't got any friends. He's too stupid and shy," I said. Then
Christian looked up at me with the saddest dog eyes I had ever seen. I felt
very sorry at that moment.
That
night, I couldn't sleep because I couldn't get Christian's face out of my mind.
In the weeks that followed, he never met my eyes in class and never smiled at
me. It was really hard for me to decide to write him a note asking him to forgive (原谅) me. But I thought I should.
The
next day in class, I wrote him a note telling him how sorry I felt. About five
minutes later, I turned and saw tears in his eyes. "You will never realize
what your apology (道歉) has
meant to me, Jimmy," he said to me. "I hope we can become friends."
We
had lunch together that noon and we had the best talk I had ever had. Over the
years at high school, we were close friends.
When
I think back, I realize that, if I had not apologized, I would never have known
what a lovely person Christian was!
Apologies
can really change your life, so never miss the chance to tell somebody you are
sorry.
