Saturday, March 30, 2013

Chicken Soup for the Soul

by Jack Canfield

one fine summer day, young mark monday - aged 4 or 5 - was tooling around the neighborhood on his Big Wheel. he was a happy lad and liked to make others around him feel happy too. this outlook soon saw its first challenge when he wheeled up to his friend Tommy - who looked miserable and had clearly been crying.

"What's the matter, Tommy?"

"Dad's going away!"

young mark monday was a military brat and so was Tommy, so mark knew exactly how he felt. he had felt the same way, many times. but he hated seeing his friend Tommy looking so upset. he thought for a moment, and as his thoughts tended to do, they moved towards his favorite shows, Sesame Street and Electric Company. what happened when kids had problems on those shows, problems that they didn't know how to solve? why, they sang about them! and then the problems just didn't seem so big anymore. and so young mark sang.

"Don't be sa-ad, Tommy!
Just be gla-ad, Tommy!
The sun is bright,
Let your heart take --"


mark was silenced when Tommy suddenly picked up a rock and smashed it right into his face. then Tommy ran off. mark sat there stunned... then slowly rode his Big Wheel home, crying and bleeding. from that day on, he knew the dangers of trying to turn a frown upside down.

Chicken Soup for the Soul


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