SARAH STORY Vera's Version

SARAH STORY
By Vera Thomas
(Revision of a story by Beth Ranado and personal experience)

As the story is told, wherever it says RIP, you will rip off a piece of Sarah. In the second half of
the story you put her back together again. We shall see physical scars.

Let me introduce you to Sarah. Sarah is an ordinary girl, just like you. There are things she likes
and doesn't like, just like you. There are things that she is good at doing and things that she's not
so good at. Just like you.

She has friends and a family that she loves, just like you.

When people are nice to Sarah, she's happy, and when they're not, it hurts her feelings. There is
one very special thing about Sarah though - when you hurt her feelings, you can actually see that
she's hurt.

Let’s look at one day in Sarah's life:

It is 7am. Sarah’s mother from downstairs yells “Sarah, get up you are going to be late for
school. Sarah doesn’t respond. Her mother storms upstairs and begin shaking and yelling at her.
“Sarah Get up! Why do I always have to come up here to make you get up? You are so lazy!
Why can’t you be more like your sister? She always gets up on time!” And that hurt Sarah's
feelings. RIP.

Well, Sarah got up and got dressed, and went downstairs for breakfast. Her older sister was
already eating breakfast, and she looked up when Sarah came in. She made a face and said "Are
you wearing that? It is so ugly and you look stupid in it. Kids are going to laugh at you. You
should change your clothes!” And that hurt Sarah's feelings. RIP.

Just before Sarah went out the door to wait for the school bus, her father looked at her and said,
Everyday it is something with you. I’m telling you, if you don’t get it together you will be
nothing you will never be anything! That crushed Sarah! RIP

When the school bus came, she got on and started to sit down next to her friend Ebony. But
Ebony said, "You can't sit here. I'm saving this seat for Joanne, the new girl!" And that hurt
Sarah's feelings. RIP.

As Sarah gets off the bus, she is walking behind a group of boys, one of which she had a crush
on. They didn’t know she was behind them. She heard one of them say, Man did you know
Sarah likes you? He said, “That big fat ugly girl?” That hurt Sarah RIP

At school that morning, as the teacher is walking around to collect the homework. Sarah is
frantically looking for hers. Not in her bookbag, her coat, or her desk she couldn't find her
homework to turn in. Her teacher was standing by her desk, arms folded with a look of total
disgust waiting for her to find it, and in front of the whole class, her teacher said, "Oh Sarah!

You are so disorganized. I think you'd lose your head if it wasn't attached to your body. Other
students started laughing out loud! That hurt Sarah RIP.
Lunch, Sarah goes to sit with the girls she usually sits with. On this day, they said, “We don’t
want you to sit with us because we want to sit with the new girl and they turned away from her.
Sarah ate lunch by herself. RIP
Finally, it was time for recess. Sarah was so looking forward to recess. On the playground, there
were two teams of her friends getting ready to play basketball. Sarah went over to the one team
to play. The team leader said, “We don’t want you on our team! You can’t even shoot the ball or
catch it!” That hurt Sarah. RIP
Someone on the other team seeing what just happened, we don’t want you on our team either!”
You will slow us down! Go play somewhere else!” That hurt Sarah. Kids on both teams started
laughing as Sarah walked away. That hurt Sarah! RIP.

After all that had happened to Sarah that day all she could do was sit on the playground and
cry. After a minute, the other kids noticed how hurt she was, and they said, "Oh, no! Look what
we've done!"

So they tried to make Sarah feel better.

"It's OK, Sarah, you can be on my team," said the captain of the first team. And that made
Sarah feel a little bit better. TAPE.

"No, we want her on our team!” said the leader of the second team. TAPE.

"We want you to play with us," said another kid. TAPE.

"I'm sorry I laughed at you," said another. TAPE.

Back in the classroom that afternoon, Sarah's teacher seem to treat her a little nicer
complimenting her work on a project and asked her to see her after class. After class, the teacher
said to her, Sarah, I apologize for how I treated you this morning. You are really a great student
and so creative!" II should not have taken my frustration out on you. I should have never
confronted you in that manner in front of the class. Please forgive me. That made Sarah feel
better TAPE.

Just before getting on the bus Sarah’s sister asked if Sarah wanted to go to the mall with her after
they get home. TAPE.

On the bus, Ebony and Joanne asked Sarah to sit with them. Ebony apologized for how she
treated her that morning. She said, “You are my best friend, I should have had the three of us sit
together. I am sorry. As they talked and laughed Sarah felt better! TAPE.

Of course, she and her sister had a WONDERFUL time at the mall laughing and checking out
clothes. Her sister even bought her ice cream and apologized for being so mean that morning.
That may Sarah happy! TAPE.

After Sarah and her sister returned from the mall; her father said, Sarah come and go to the store
with me. When she got in the car, her father said, there is no excuse for me saying what I said to
you this morning. I was so wrong for saying you are nothing. That is not true. You are
beautiful, you are smart with a kind heart and I love you so much. I am so very proud of you and
I want you to be proud that I am your dad. Please forgive me. By that time, they were at the
store. He told her to stay in the car and he would be right back. He came back with a toy she had
been wanting. That made Sarah happy. TAPE.

When Sarah went to bed, her mother came to her room hugged and kissed her and said, I am so
sorry I yelled and shook you this morning. You are really a wonderful daughter. I should have
never compared you to your sister. You both have great qualities. They may be different and
that is what makes you so special! I love you and I am so proud of you. We will work on better
ways to get you up in the mornings. TAPE.

And so Sarah went to bed feeling much better than she did at the start of her day!

My question for you is this:

Does Sarah LOOK the same as this morning?

These lines are scars, that will fade over time, like physical scars, the hurt may never go away.

Remember, Words spoken can never be taken back. Life and death is in the power of the tongue.
What we say is sometimes what we get. We can learn to treat people the way we want to be
treated. Love your neighbor as you love yourself!