Be Good To Your Enemies

Story 1

Long ago, there lived a little boy named Sammy. He was a good boy. He was good in his studies,
obedient to his parents, more intelligent than many other boys in his class and kind to everyone.
Grown-ups as well as those junior to Sammy loved him very much. But that aroused jealousy in
many other boys who longed to be as loved as Sammy.

Now there was another boy named Timmy who studied in the same class as Sammy. Unlike
Sammy, he was not good at studies and always liked to play during school hours. He misbehaved
with his parents, bullied his classmates and even ill-treated Sammy. He always tried to put
Sammy down and belittled him before other kids in the class. But no matter what he did,
Sammy's grades kept getting better and better. Whether in studies or in sports or from his
classmates, Sammy kept getting accolades from everywhere.

On his eighth birthday, Sammy got a nice pen as a gift from his parents. He brought it to school
so that he could use it to take down the notes of the lectures that the teachers gave in class. This
was a very beautiful pen and it could help one write very fast. When Timmy saw it, he was very
jealous of Sammy. He asked Sammy,

"Hey, where did you get that? Did you buy it?"

"My parents gave it as a birthday gift to me." replied Sammy.

Timmy was overwhelmed with anger and jealousy. The bad boy that he was, he rarely got any
present from his parents. He decided to steal Sammy's pen. During recess, when everyone had
gone out from the class, Timmy opened Sammy's bag and took out his pen. Then he hid it inside
his bag and went out to have his tiffin.

When Sammy came back and could not find his pen, he informed his class teacher about it.
There was a hunt for the missing pen and the class teacher ordered the class monitor to search the
bag of every children inside the class. The missing pen was soon found out of Timmy's bag and
the furious teacher asked the errant boy,

"Now Timmy, what do you have to say about it?"

Timmy was in tears. He had nothing to say.

When Sammy saw Timmy cry, he took pity on the boy. The kind boy that he was, he had no
ill-feeling against his classmate. He requested his class teacher not to take any action against
Timmy, now that his stolen pen was found.

This opened Timmy's eyes. He could now see what a good boy Sammy was. He asked for
forgiveness from his teacher and Sammy. From that day, he became friends with Sammy and
gradually changed himself to be as good as Sammy. Everyone began to love Timmy and Sammy
was proud of his new friend.

Despite being hurt by Timmy, Sammy gave him back only love in return. This is how we should

also treat our enemies. Who knows? One day, our behaviour may just change themselves for the
better.

Moral: Do not harm someone even if he harms you. Be good to all.

Story 2

Once upon a time, there lived a farmer who had a little land. His name was Tuan and he was a
very kind and good-natured person. He lived in a hut on his land with his wife and children and
earned by selling whatever crops he could produce on his small land.

Tuan loved to help others. Whenever someone fell ill or needed something badly, Tuan was there
to help that person. If someone died in the village, Tuan assisted the family members of the
deceased person in whichever way he could. If anyone fell ill at night, Tuan was right beside the

village doctor to help him prepare the medicines and tend to the sick. There seemed to be
none who hated this man. He appeared to be loved by one and all.

But there was one person who hated Tuan with all his heart. He was Juan, a neighbour of Tuan,
who lived in the land next to him. A lazy person by nature, Juan hardly put in as much effort to
cultivate his land as Tuan did to produce crops in his own. So when the harvest season arrived
every year, Juan found that he had very few crops to sell. Tuan on the other hand, earned a
handsome profit through the selling of his produces.

One year, Juan could no longer contain his jealousy. Just days before Tuan was to reap his
harvest, Juan set fire to his crops at night. Tuan was asleep at this time and it was only the
alertness of one of his other neighbours that saved much of his crops from being perished in the
deadly flames of the fire that Juan had lighted.

When the flames were doused, Tuan saw which direction the fire had started from. Juan's
animosity towards him was unknown to Tuan. But he let the matters rest and decided to take
action only if he saw Juan repeating his dastardly act once again.

That year, Tuan managed to sell the rest of his crops at a good price but he could not make much
profit for a good part of his produces had been burnt. He had a heavy heart but he did not like to
tell anyone about it.

Only days later, Tuan was awakened by the sound of lamentations. He went out to find a crowd
beside Juan's hut. He rushed to find that Juan's son had fallen ill. He found that the village doctor

was unable to provide a cure to his illness. Tuan knew what he had to do. He untied his own
horse and rode it. Then he rushed to the town that was ten miles away and fetched a more
experienced doctor who lived there.

This doctor was able to guess the disease correctly and provided an exact cure for it. Within

hours, the boy was found to sleep soundly and Tuan went with the doctor to take him back to the
town.

A day later, Juan went to Tuan's hut and began to weep bitterly. He confessed to his sins but was
surprised when Tuan told him that he knew about it all.

"You knew that I had set fire to your crops? And still you fetched the doctor for my son?" asked
the astonished Juan.

Tuan nodded and said, "I did what I knew was right. Could I do wrong just because you had done
so?"

Juan stood up and embraced Tuan. Both men were in tears and so were the others who stood by
them.

From that day, Juan changed himself. Within a year, he could produce much crops in his land
through his hard work. When the others asked him how he had changed so much, he only replied,

"It was the goodness and love of Tuan that transformed me."

Moral: Be nice to your friends. Be nicer to your enemies.

Story 3

Many many years ago, there lived a dog named Tom. Tom was adopted as a pet in a wealthy
household and he was daily showered with nice foods and affections by her mistress Mrs
Havisham. All day, Tom lived in a kennel within the compound of the house and he tried his
best to guard the home of his mistress. Whenever a thief or a burgler came within the vicinity,
Tom would bark as loudly as he could to scare the living daylights out of the culprit. He was the
favourite of his mistress. When night fell, he slept on a nice blanket inside his kennel and when
day broke he had his food served before him in no time.

But the neighbourhood dogs were not so lucky and they were jealous of Tom's fortune. Now
and then, they would bark from outside the gates of Tom's house and utter curses at him. All this
disturbed Tom a little, but he would only say,

"Poor fellows, they have to struggle so much for their food while I am so lucky. I must not shout
at them and add to their misery."

So he kept quiet and went about his business, turning a deaf ear to their insults.

One day, as he was taking a walk with his mistress, Tom found that some young boys were

throwing stones at those same dogs who insulted him. The dogs were cornered and they had
nowhere to go. They could in no way avoid being hit by the stones thrown at them. Many of
them were bleeding and barking feebly in protest. But the boys were not in a mood to let go of
them so lightly. They picked up bigger stones and rocks to have more fun at the expense of the
weak, helpless dogs.

Tom could not hold himself back. He was of a strong build and had a very deep voice. He knew
that he could scare the boys. He managed to wrench his leash free out of his mistress' hands and
he ran towards the boys.

The boys were startled at the terrible barking that Tom directed at them. Their blood froze at the
sight of the huge Tom baring his fangs and running towards them. They dropped their rocks and
ran away as fast as their legs could carry them.

"Go home" Tom said to his bloodied abusers "no one will disturb you anymore."

He ran back to his mistress who had seen all that Tom did. She patted Tom and praised him for
his courage.

That night, Tom's mistress saw a strange sight. The dogs whom Tom had saved in the morning
had gathered near the gates of her house. It seemed to her as if they were telling something to her
pet.

"Maybe they are thanking Tom for his brave gesture." she thought.

And right she was! From that day, Tom and his abusers had become friends. Tom's kindness had
won over his abusers' hatred and he had earned their love, respect and admiration that nothing on
earth could buy.

Moral: Be good to all, even if they happen to be your enemies.