Dear Jack, Mark and Kim,
I am such a huge admirer of your books. They have literally changed my way of thinking and how I act. I never used to really think twice about making rude comments to people in my school who I thought were weird. I want to share how a story in your book changed the way I treat people.
When it comes to the social structure, my school, like most typical high schools, has all kinds of different groups of friends. My group of friends is a tight group, and we consider each other best friends. Unfortunately, someone always seems to get left out of a group and in our group that was Jessica. For some cruel reason we liked to make fun of her. We thought it was actually pretty hilarious. We constantly made jokes about the way she dressed and how her hair always looked like it was never clean. It wasn’t that she didn’t wash it, but there never seemed to be any life to it, like it was straw. We just couldn’t figure it out. We would make up poems and silly little songs about her hair. We knew we were being immature, but it was a way to get a cheap laugh here and there, not really realizing what it could be doing to her inside.
One day, my English teacher read us a story from Chicken Soup for the Soul titled, “A Simple Gesture.”* It was about a boy named Mark who was on his way home from school with all his books and everything else he had stored in his locker. He had fallen and a fellow classmate named Bill helped him up. Mark was going home to commit suicide because he was having a difficult time in school and in life in general. But because of Bill’s kindness towards Mark, he decided not to hurt himself, realizing what other good things he might miss later on down the road. When she finished reading the story, I immediately thought about Jessica and what we were doing to her and how horrible she must feel when we make fun of her. It made me wonder if all the jokes we told about her caused her to think about suicide.
My next class with Jessica was in ten minutes and she sat in front of me. This was where we usually made fun of her hair, but this time I didn’t nor did I ever again. Instead, I wrote her a letter apologizing for the way I had treated her. I told her I couldn’t apologize for the rest of the girls, and that maybe they just didn’t realize yet what they were doing to her and the pain they were probably causing her. This letter was the most sincere apology I had ever given to anyone in my life. When I handed it to her she wanted to throw it away, but I stopped her and begged her to read it. She said, “Why, so I can just read all the insults that you wrote to me? I don’t feel like putting up with this anymore.” So I took the letter from her hands and started reading it out loud to her in front of the entire class. My friends gave me the strangest looks, but I didn’t care at that point. I wanted them and the rest of the students to hear what I had written. When I came to the end of the letter I said, “I’m so sorry for what I’ve done to you. I hope that somehow you can find it in your heart to forgive me.” She ran up to me with tears in her eyes and hugged me. I cried with her. I could see my friends whispering to each other, but it didn’t matter.
I had gained a new friend that afternoon. I will always be forever grateful to my English teacher for reading us that story and to you for publishing such amazing stories. You have helped open my eyes and to realize that everyone deserves to be treated with respect, no matter what. Keep up the great work you guys are doing.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Lirette
*“A Simple Gesture,” by John W. Schlatter, Chicken Soup for the Soul, pp. 34–35.