Stories of Kindness from Around the World

My Enemy Named Fred


--by klort73, posted Jul 5, 2011

When I was thirteen years old, I had an enemy. Not a wanted enemy, mind you, but an evil one!

His name was Fred, and boy, was he mean. He took advantage of all my short-comings. My mother passed away when I was ten, and he wouldn't even let up about that!

One day, he and a few of his friends dumped mustard all over my new shirt which I'd begged my aunt for hours to let me have.

A few weeks before school was out, Fred stopped coming to school. Curious, I asked around only to discover that his mother had passed away the week before.

I felt terrible for him! Mind you, he had never been a sweetheart or anything, but I knew how terrible it was to lose a parent as a kid.

I checked the school directory for his address and mailed him a long, anonymous letter about how I coped with losing my mom, and things I'd learned from it. And mostly, I told him how sorry I was for his loss.

A few weeks later, when he returned to school, he still made fun of me, but I felt much better about the situation.  My letter hadn't changed him, but I think it changed me!

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Readers Comments

AURELIA wrote: Fred doesn't sound like he learned much. I'm glad you didn't let he rudeness get to you and you still showed him compassion when he needed it most. Good for you. ~aurelia
JuneBug wrote: You did a good thing mailing that letter to Fred... even though he still acts mean. Maybe he is just acting out??? At least you feel better for doing it....:}
brighteyes wrote: I am glad you followed your heart and even though he hurt you greatly and continously, you had and have enough compassion to comfort him when he lost his Mom....it is so important NOT TO JUDGE ANOTHER and just show all love, kindness, forgiveness and compassion...we do not know his whole story and maybe you're actions might trigger a future change in behavior.

HUGS to you, Brighteyes ;)
Stella wrote: That's so cool, I'm sure he was really pleased to know someone cared...that's especially nice about the ANONYMOUS part...it's kinda like you know that what you're doing is right, and you don't need him to show you love and thanks for it, you don't want to brag about your amazing "niceness"!
liztree wrote: I love this story. I took me a long time to learn, and I'm still learning that giving is about the giving, not about the reward of gratitude. This is a perfect example of true giving. Thank you for sharing!
lovebug wrote: You got it right the first time. The only one you can change is yourself.Beautiful story. Bravo and God Bless
Josh Tait wrote: Your amazing bro,
Keep doing stuff like this, it makes you great in your own eyes plus will make people feel beter etc etc
warmth wrote: its good that u took such a noble initiative. Shows the goodness in you. Keep up the good work. God Bless u and thank u for sharing this kindness story.
Tigerlily wrote: Wow. One of life's beautiful but tough lessons... we cannot change others, only ourselves... and the miracle in changing ourselves is that we just don't see things the same even if they are. What a priceless story. Thank you; it was inspirational.
cabbage wrote: You are amazing. Thank you for being you.

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