An original humility story, written by our student Aashna Suvarna.

Aashna is 13 years old young writer from Mumbai. She loves music, reading, and writing. We are proud to have her as a student of the Little Writers Program, an Online Creative Writing Program using Applied Storytelling & Theatre tools under the mentorship of Trainer Khusshbo Chokhaani. We congratulate Aashna for this exemplary true self-expression.

Wish For Humility

A famous Chinese saying, “Be like the bamboo, the higher you rise, the deeper you bow”. This shows humility is a strength, not a weakness. Some people might think it is a weakness, but I believe it is a strength. It takes a strong person to be humble. Arrogant people are often insecure and need to put others down to feel more confident about themselves. Humility, on the other hand, comes from confidence and self-awareness. Humility is critical because it keeps you fresh and alive.

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Bellatrix. She was astute, a virtuoso in every art, and the most immaculate person in the room. But there was one flaw in her. She was probably the most complacent and smug person in the entire world because of the praise she got from everyone. Everything was fine until life decided to play a famous trick on you to teach you conceit. Here comes Amanda, a talented yet unpretentious person. She may not be the most talented but always tries her best to achieve it and help others along the way. As soon as Bellatrix met Amanda at school, she made sure to show her dominance over her thinking that it would concern her. Amanda, even after Bellatrix relinquished her, asked for advice and was appreciative of her victory.

Due to her mastery of everything, Bellatrix got really famous in school and almost everywhere. Everyone became her follower despite her attitude towards them. But as soon as they saw Amanda, they felt unpretentiousness despite her achievements. Eventually, Bellatrix lost people who were the backbone of her arrogance. But, she was too deeply lost in her vanity to realize her mistakes.

Then came the big event of the year, the election of the grade representative. At Georgian High, this was a big deal since the grade representative got some pretty awesome perks. Bellatrix was always known as the representative of her grade. This was a position they gave up, and Bellatrix usually has no rivals, except for some newbies who don’t know anything about it. But this year, Amanda also stood for this post. Despite giving a flawless speech, having the highest aim and probably being the perfect candidate for this post, Guess who won? Bell-Amanda! Hurray! This was because people wanted change. They didn’t want the same old bossy and oh-I-am-so-great person. They didn’t wish to go on the same old school trips that Bellatrix felt were good and they didn’t wish to please her ego so she keeps them in the teacher’s good books. They wanted someone who accepted the criticism, empathized with them, and someone they could talk to without acting as if they were talking to God. Overall, they had finally got a leader who may not be good in everything but was a master in leadership, not self-appreciation

But on the other hand, Bellatrix who never lost, looked like she would incinerate Amanda. In dismay, she went to the bathroom and cried her heart out. Suddenly a euphonic voice called out her name, which she quickly deduced as Amanda’s. It said “Bellatrix, where are you? Bellatrix.” Scared of being made fun of, she quickly locked the door of her bathroom cubicle. She realized that despite winning, Amanda still wanted to look for her and care for her. She had been such a feather-headed and vain person all this time. She opened the cubicle door. She saw Amanda waiting for her. “Hey, are you okay? Are you fine? Hey, stop crying. You were wonderful. I have been so surprised that I won. You deserved the post.” Stop praising me since I am not that great. Anyways, guess what? I selected you as my vice-grade representative. Okay, don’t worry nobody is going to tease you. Just go and give that speech” said Amanda with a cheerful punch that landed on Bellatrix’s shoulder.”Thank you so much” Bellatrix said before taking a deep breath and going on the stage.

Cut to three months later, the students of 8th grade from Georgian High were boarding a school bus, all dogs on two tails for their school trip. Two girls boarded the bus. Hardly recognizable now, Bellatrix had changed. From the girl with either a mature or proud smirk expression on her face to the happy and footloose and fancy-free attitude, was a unique journey for her but with the help of Amanda, it was great. And happy to have fun friends who are honest about you and whom she could be real with. So, I guess the quote “Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.” applies well in Bellatrix’s case. Does it in yours? then better make this quote your pledge “I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.” And please be humble as this world could use some of it.

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