It was morning. More precisely, the morning after Christmas. Anna opened her eyes. She could still lie in her bed because she didn't have to rush to catch the bus for school since school was, of course, closed. She was on a winter break from school. She came down to the kitchen and her face lit up with joy when she saw a huge pile of snow that was covering the entire entrance to the house. She called her best friends, Betty and Sara. They had been best since kindergarden. When they came to Anna's place they started to build a huge snowman behind the house. After a while, some children from the neighbourhood joined the fun.
There was also a boy named Tom who went to Anna's class. It was not a surprise that he wasn't prepared for a snow day. He had a hat that barely covered his head. His boots were too big for him, they were probably his dad's, and the jacket was way too small. His family was poor and couldn't afford any warm clothes for the winter season. The saddest thing was that other children were laughing at him, which made Anna very angry.
Anna went up to Tom and asked him if she could bring him Adam's hat, gloves and jacket because her brother Adam is only a year older than Anna and Tom. Tom was already feeling embarrassed and insulted because other children laughed at him and now, with Anna's question, he felt even worse and strongly pushed Anna into the snow. Anna was astonished about what had just happened. Tom didn't say anything, he just turned around quickly and went straight home.
One beautiful snow day that was supposed to be full of children's laughter turned into a feeling of guilt for Anna. She was confused and didn't understand what she had done so bad that made Tom so upset. Later that same evening she told her mum about what had happened earlier that day and her mum came up with a sweet surprise for Tom. So they took a bag in which they had put a jacket which would fit Tom perfectly, a pair of nice black snow boots and a hat which was bigger than his old one. They left it in front of Tom's house. He lived just acros the street so they were close neighbours. Anna also left a note for him inside the bag in which she wrote that she wasn't upset about what he did. She also wrote: Put on warm clothes and come to the sledding slope tomorrow.
And so it was. Tom came in the clothes from the bag. He went to the hill where all the children were sledding. When he saw Anna he came to her and apologized for his rude behaviour the day before. He also told her that he was very pleased for what she did for him. Anna accepted his apology and they had fun sledding all day long.
From that day they became friends and defended each other from the injustice and from mean comments of other children.
Anna and Tom shared this story with us as a message to other children that sometimes one small sign of understanding and attention to someone can not only brighten their day but can also make changes that later in life grow into big ones. Bullied children can grow into people who can help others who are victims of all kinds of bullying. You just need to have a little bit of courage and that one friend that is enough to help you when you are in need.