Once upon a time there
was a little boy who was roaming the streets begging for food. He finally
stumbled upon a Chinese restaurant. His mouth was salivating and his stomach
grumbled with hunger. The restaurant owner came out and saw the boy looking in the
window sick and skinny. He took the kid in and fed him until the kid could not
eat anymore.
The kid started to come every
day and the man fed him. Soon the man gave the kid a job at his restaurant.
Every day the kid would come, work his shift, eat and then leave. Finally, one
day the man asked the kid, "Where are you living that there is no food to eat?" The kid told him, "Please do not judge me. I sneak into an old man's boat a couple of blocks down from here. My parents kicked me out, and I have just been doing my best to survive." The owner immediately took him in.
The kid grew up helping
the owner as much as he could. They had a special bond. One that lasted a long
time. Finally, the day had come for the kid to go to medical school. The owner
was sad to see him go but was glad that he was able to get the kid on his feet.
Time passed and they still kept in touch, however the kid got busy in his own
life.
The kid turned out to be
a really successful doctor. He was known worldwide and was the most credited
doctor in the country for the extraordinary successful surgeries he had performed. One day a patient was rushed in, in the middle of the
night. The patient had passed out because he had a heart attack. The kid, who
was now a doctor, was called and requested to come in. He was not happy about
it, because he just worked a 13-hour shift, but went to the hospital anyways.
When he got to the hospital he immediately questioned his staff about why the
other doctor was not able to help the patient. The intake nurse said, " In the
process of his heart attack he requested to see you." The doctor was shocked, and
wondered who would say something like that during a heart attack.
When he entered the
room, his eyes immediately filled with tears. He went to the patient’s side and
fell crying in his arms. It was the man who had took him in. It was the man who
had fed him for years and years. It was the man who had paid him enough so that
he would be able to attend medical school. It was the man who was the dad he
never had.
He helped the owner get
better and get back to his feet. When the owner returned home he came to a
stack of bills and his heart started to race again with stress. When he started
to open the bills one by one he saw that they all said $0.00. He was very
confused. He finally opened the last envelope which contained a letter. The
letter was written out "To: The Best Dad Ever."
The guy was confused but
continued to read. The letter was a letter of appreciation for everything the
owner had down for the kid. The kid explained he had paid off all the owner's
bill. Furthermore, there was a check in the envelope for $100,000. This was so
the owner could finally retire since everything is paid for and spoil himself a
little. That is when the owner realized the circle of life.
The Owner and the Kid
(Source: StaticFlickr)
Authors Note:
In
the original story, there is an elephant that has a splinter in his foot. He is
hurting when he comes across a few carpenters in the forest, who help the
elephant get the splinter out of his foot. Then the elephant decided to assist
the carpenters in order to repay them for their generosity by cutting down the
trees. The elephant then had a child and taught the child how to help the
carpenters because he was getting too old to help them himself. The carpenters
would feed the baby elephant and take care of the baby elephant. The baby
elephant would play with the carpenter’s kids on his down time, and made good friends
with them. Then finally one day, the king was strolling by when he saw the white
baby elephant. He was so astonished by its beauty that he paid the carpenters a
good amount for the elephant. He then took really good care of the elephant. The
carpenters helping the elephant, the older elephant helping the carpenters, and
then the baby elephant helping the carpenters came full circle when the king
took care of the baby elephant. My story is based on this but in human form. A
child needs help and the owner helps him. In the end the owner needs help and
the child helps him.
Bibliography:
Wow! Mehik this is such a great story. I loved your writing and the story line. I noticed that your title was foreshadowing. The "circle" was the connection between the man at the restaurant and the boy who went to middle school. The man at the restaurant was able to pick up the slack for the kid and the medical school guy was able to do the same in the long run. This was a very inspiring story.
ReplyDeleteI really love the element of balance in this story. You did a great job reflecting on the way that karma tends to work slowly over long periods of time in order to balance great acts of mercy, kindness, and generosity with great rewards. Those rewards are certainly not immediate, but this story shows how after a length of time they can be achieved. I really enjoyed reading it.
ReplyDeleteThis is a cool story and it is a great twist on the original! I actually saw a video that was a lot like your story on the internet, where there was a little boy who was trying to steal things for his sick mother. He got caught and a random guy bought the things for him and then one day that guy had a heart attack and the kid was his doctor and he paid all his bills too! You should try to find this video and check it out! Great work this week!
ReplyDeleteMehik, I was wondering what is your portfolio theme?
ReplyDeleteGreat descriptive words in the opening paragraph. It really made me feel empathy for the character! The second paragraph really pulled me in. How sad of a life that poor boy was living! I’m curious how the boy could afford medical school. Maybe insert a small section about a scholarship or the owner paying him so much that helped him go to school earlier in the story?
How sad they didn’t stay in better contact once he became a doctor. What a perfect ending this story had though! I believe this kind of this is true, pay it forward because one day you might in need for help.
Your story also reminded me a lot of this commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XADBJjiAO_0
I love that you went from animals to humans. I thought of doing humans to animals story, but thought it’d be a little too challenging. You did a really good job though!
Hey Mehik! This was a great read and a really nice addition to your portfolio. I really enjoyed the story and how much emotion you put into it. This really helps bring the reader in and show perspective of each character. A good example of this is when you said, "When he entered the room, his eyes immediately filled with tears. He went to the patient’s side and fell crying in his arms. It was the man who had took him in. It was the man who had fed him for years and years." This really helped the characters become relatable. Another great way to do this is to introduce narrative. This is an easy way to really show how a character behaves. Another aspect I enjoyed was how you kept it simple with only two characters. Because these stories are so short it is nice to only have two characters to not make it to confusing. Overall i thought this was a great story, keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteHi, I really enjoyed your story. First off, I like the picture you chose. Although it might just be a random photo of two men, it fits the story. It also gives the readers a physical image of what the two characters could look like. I like how you changed it up and made all of the characters into humans. I love reading stories about the jataka tales. They are really neat, little stories that can be transformed into something completely different from the original plot. I think that would be one suggestion I would say to try. Instead of recreating the same plot with different characters, try to change it up a bit more. I like the addition of humans, but maybe instead of following the plot so closely. You can add some specific twists and turns. I think that would make it a little more interesting. Other than that suggestion, it was a nice read! I always enjoy these tales.
ReplyDelete