Forgiveness
It was a cool, fall day in Okinawa. Shahla ran into the house, dropping her book bag as she went, shouting, “Mom, a boy at school gave me a bloody nose!”
Mother jumped up in surprise and looked carefully at Shahla’s face. Little Anisa came running too: she wanted to see Shahla’s poor nose.
“What happened?” Mother asked, imagining this big, bully of a boy slamming his fist into poor Shahla’s nose!
Just then, Mona, Asma and Riaz walked in from school.
Shahla began her story, “This boy in my class was being namaiki to the teacher. (‘Namaiki’ is Japanese for rude or cheeky.) I told him to stop, but he wouldn’t! So I went behind him and wrapped my arms around his neck to pull him away from the teacher.” Shahla then went behind a surprised Riaz and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Then, he threw his head back! His head punched me in the nose!” Riaz after hearing this, cooperated by putting his head back, to make contact with Shahla’s head. “And my nose started bleeding all over the place! It really hurt!”
Just then Shahla looked out the glass door and exclaimed, “OH NO!” and she ran to her room. Everyone else looked out and saw a woman carrying a big fruit basket coming toward the house; behind her, was a little boy.
Mother went outside to greet them while Anisa, Asma, and Riaz ran out to see what was going on.
The woman introduced herself and said she and her son had come to apologize for his hurting Shahla at school today. Mother looked at the boy, who was smaller than Mother had imagined…. He was quite a bit shorter than Shahla. Suddenly Mother felt sorry for the boy. Who picked on who, she wondered? Mother turned toward the house and called Shahla to come out and greet the guests. Shahla needed to apologize, too! But then, to Mother’s great embarrassment, and Asma and Riaz’s great amusement, Shahla ran out of the house with a pair of boxing gloves on!!!
“Shahla come down here and apologize!” Mother scolded.
Shahla came down, and Mother took the gloves off Shahla.
The woman dragged the boy in front of her and poked him and nodded. He looked down and timidly said, “I am sorry Shahla; I didn’t mean to give you a bloody nose.”
Mother looking sternly at Shahla said, “Shahla I think you were too rough with him; he was only protecting himself. You need to apologize, too.”
“I am sorry I choked you,” said Shahla, also looking down.
Mother suggested that Shahla take the boy into their room to play a game together. Mother asked the other children to go and play with them, while Mother took the woman into the house for a cup of coffee.
Later that evening at dinner, Mother told Father what had happened.
Mona asked, “Well, Shahla, did you forgive him?”
“Yeah, it was kind of hard, but once we got playing the game, we had a lot of fun…. He is kind of a nice guy!”
Father nodded and said, “Yes, I heard a very wise man say that being angry with someone is like taking poison and expecting the other person to die!”
With that Riaz and Asma laughed out loud, and Mona said, “Yeah, think about it: When you are angry, you feel upset, but maybe the other person has forgotten all about it!”
“Oh, that’s like the story about the teacher and the kids in her class that were always fighting and angry with each other!” shouted Riaz as he jumped up from his chair in excitement. “I heard it at Baha’i Summer School!”
“What happened?” asked little Anisa.
“The teacher had a great idea!” Riaz continued. “She brought a big bag of potatoes to school and a whole bunch of empty bags. She gave each kid a bag, and told them that whenever they were mad at someone they should put a potato in the bag…; when they forgave them they could take it out. The kids really liked that idea, they just kept getting into fights and putting potatoes in their bags. The teacher said they had to carry the bags at recess, and at home… and all day! Since no one ever forgave anyone, the bags kept getting heavier and heavier!” Riaz demonstrated by pretending to pull a heavy bag across the room. “Pretty 
soon the potatoes started to spoil and smell really bad, and still the kids dragged their bags around and added more and more
potatoes!” As Riaz pulled and pulled an invisible bag around the room, little Anisa clapped in glee. Riaz was such a showman!
“Finally, one boy decided, ‘to heck with this!’ He thought about his classmates and said, ‘They are all nice guys! I like them! I forgive them!’ and he dumped all his potatoes in the garbage!” Riaz
demonstrated what that would look like, then paraded around the room smiling and showing off (to his pretend friends) how it felt to be free. “All his classmates liked that idea, and they all did the same thing! They all decided that being angry hurt no one but themselves!” Riaz finished with a bow and all the family clapped.
Then Asma added, “‘Abdu’l-Baha was the Perfect Example of how we should forgive people. Remember the man that spent years and years hating all the Baha’is. He especially hated ‘Abdu’l-Baha because He was the leader of the Baha’is. The man always used to spit at ‘Abdu’l-Baha every time he saw Him.”
Mona continued, “’Abdu’l-Baha never got angry with him; He always forgave him…and helped the man whenever the man needed anything—medicine or money—or visiting him when he was sick, or anything!”
“Then,” finished Asma, “after about 30 years the man finally felt bad and went to beg ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s forgiveness and they become good friends!”
Father looked at his children and said, “I hope we all have learned the importance of forgiveness. In fact, ‘Abdu’l-Baha said we should not give offence, and we should not take offence…. That means we should try to not make people angry, and we should not get angry, either. To not get angry in the first place is even better than forgiving after you get angry!”
Shahla jumped down from the table and ran to the kitchen and got the big basket of fruit off the counter.
“Well, the good news is….we have a nice bunch of fruit for dessert!” she said as she put the basket in the middle of the table. The family laughed as they all enjoyed the rewards of Shahla’s forgiveness.
Quiz
- Why was Shahla upset when she came home from school?
____________________________________________________________________________ - Who came with a fruit basket to the house?
___________________________________________________________ - Why did they bring a fruit basket?
_____________________________________________________________________________ - What did Shahla come out wearing on her hands that upset Mother?
_____________________________________________________________________________ - In the story that Riaz told, why did the teacher bring potatoes to school?_____________________________________________________________________________
- What did the children put in their bags if they were angry with someone? _____________________________________________________________________________
- What did they do if they forgave the person?
_____________________________________________________________________________ - What did the children learn about forgiveness?
_____________________________________________________________________________ - What did ‘Abdu’l-Baha teach us about getting angry and forgiveness?
____________________________________________________________________________ - Can you think of a time when it was difficult, but you forgave someone?
___________________________________________________________________________
How did you do? Did you get them all right? The answers are on the Parent’s Page
Glove Dolls
Materials:
＊Cotton glove
＊Small piece of construction paper, red or pink, for a virtue heart
＊Cotton stuffing
＊Rubber bands
＊Yarn for hair
＊Felt pieces, various colors
＊White glue
＊Various small decorations for the clothes, pipe cleaners, etc.
Method:
＊ Tuck thumb into the glove,
＊Cut out a little heart and write a virtue (love, friendship, kindness, etc.)
＊Put the heart into the inserted thumb hole.
＊Stuff the doll with the cotton;
(make sure the stuffing goes all the way to the tip of the 4 fingers.)
＊ 
Tightly put a rubber band just above the stuffed fingers (this is the neck)
＊Stuff the head (leave room at the top to fold down for the hat)
＊Fold down the hat
＊Glue on yarn for the hair (under the hat)
＊Cut felt for clothes and shoes
＊Cut eyes and mouth out of felt (or eyes could be googly eyes)
＊Decorate clothes
Dot to Dot
Connect the letters from a to z and find out what they are carrying.
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
Photos
Parents Page
Let’s all consider these quotes on Forgiveness.
“Forgive all, consider the whole of humanity as our own family, the whole earth as our own country, be sympathetic with all suffering, nurse the sick, offer a shelter to the exiled, help the poor and those in need, dress all wounds and share the happiness of each one” (‘Abdu’l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 41)
“If someone commits an error and wrong toward you, you must instantly forgive him.” (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 453)
“O ye friends of God! Show ye an endeavour that all the nations and communities of the world, even the enemies, put their trust, assurance and hope in you; that if a person falls into errors for a hundred-thousand times he may yet turn his face to you, hopeful that you will forgive his sins; for he must not become hopeless, neither grieved nor despondent. This is the conduct and the manner of the people of Baha’. This is the foundation of the most high pathway!” (‘Abdu’l-Baha, Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Baha vol. 2, p. 436)
“Look ye not upon the creatures, turn ye to their Creator. See ye not the never-yielding people, see but the Lord of Hosts. Gaze ye not down upon the dust, gaze upward at the shining sun, which hath caused every patch of darksome earth to glow with light.” (‘Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, p. 73)
“How my heart leaps with joy when I hear the friends love each other, always overlooking one another’s small mistakes; and that they are forgiving their enemies!” (‘Abdu’l-Baha -Star of the West, 3)
“Inasmuch as God is clement and loving to His children, lenient and merciful toward our shortcomings, why should we be unkind and unforgiving toward each other?”
“Let not your heart be offended with anyone. If someone commits an error and wrong toward you, you must instantly forgive him. Do not complain of others. Refrain from reprimanding them, and if you wish to give admonition or advice, let it be offered in such a way that it will not burden the hearer. Turn all your thoughts toward bringing joy to hearts. Beware! Beware! lest ye offend any heart.” ‘Abdu’l-Baha
“O ye friends of God! Make ye a mighty effort that all the peoples and kindreds of the world, even the enemies, should put their trust, confidence and hope in you. Should a soul commit a hundred thousand misdeeds, yet may he hope for forgiveness and may not become despondent or grieved.” ‘Abdu’l-Baha
Answers to the Quiz: 1) A boy at school gave her the nose bleed. 2) The boy she fought with and his mother. 3) To apologize. 4) Boxing gloves. 5) To give to the children so that they could learn forgiveness. 6) A potato. 7) They took out a potato. 8) Being angry with someone only hurts yourself, not the other person. 9) Don’t give offense and don’t take offense.