Our Differences Bring out Our Similarities

By Ryan

Hello, I am Lee Chen. Well…. I am Lee Chen to my parents but to my friends I am Thomas. It gets kind of annoying at times to transition between names but I think I handle it well. Anyway, I just moved to Texas from China. I am always trying to fit in with the other kids but I just don’t get why it is so much fun to play a game called “gagaball” where the point of the game is to hit the ball with your hand to hit the other kid’s leg. At my old school we played games like bubble gum and not a game where you are meant to throw an orange ball with stripes into a small circle with a net to win. Basically, I’m trying to fit in the best I can but it’s too hard when you’re Asian. 

*********************

“Yo, Tommy,” Cedric the bully says, “Nice key chain on your backpack, I’ll hold it for you!” 

“STOP,” I scream, “It’s not funny!” 

“What are you gonna do, cry about it and tell your mom,” Cedric says, “Oh wait, I forgot, she isn’t here!”

I may have forgotten to tell you but my mom is still in Asia taking care of my nǎi nǎi.* She couldn’t come because my nǎi nǎi is really sick and needs someone to take care of her. Meanwhile, everybody is laughing at me and making fun of me. 

“Hey,” Mr. George asks, “What’s so funny?”

Everybody is silent.

“N-nothing Mr. George,” Cedric says, “we just found a-a-a,” he looks around for inspiration, “a funny looking piece of that tree, it looks like a face.”

“That’s not true,” I say, “they were making fun of me because my mom is not here.” 

“Shut up,” Cedric whispers angrily

“I will not,” I whisper back.

“4:00 after school in the playground, be there!” Cedric said as he gritted his teeth.

*********************

After school I didn’t go to the playground, I just went home. I went to my little sister, Amy’s, room. She has SCID and no it doesn’t stand for Snow Cones in Disney, it stands for severe combined immunodeficiency which basically means that her cells for fighting diseases are very weak. If someone sneezes in her general direction then she could end up with pneumonia. But she’s a really good listener, so everyday I come back and tell her about my day. 

“Today I stood up to Cedric,” I say, “He was making fun of me and I said stop it to him.”

“Did he stop though,” she asks, “because if he didn’t it’s not that much of an achievement.”

“He didn’t,” I say mournfully, “he only stopped when Mr. George came.”

“George, the gorilla,” she says playfully, “no wonder he stopped, the guy’s giant.”

We both laugh for a while until our dad calls us for dinner.

“For dinner today we have spicy boiled fish and tofu with rice,” he says.

“You’re doing a great job cooking without mom, dad,” I say by accident.

“I-I-I I gotta go.”

I forgot how sensitive he was about mom, “I’m an idiot.” 

“No you aren’t Thomas,” my sister yells from upstairs. 

My sister is the most supportive 2nd grade sister a brother could ever ask for, she helps me with my problem with Cedric. She said I should stand up to him and act scary so I’m gonna try that tomorrow. 

*********************

After a good night’s sleep and a lot of time planning on what I’m gonna do, I realized it’s just best if I do a trick on him. I’ve decided that I’m gonna scare him with his one biggest fear, spiders. Every time he gets near one he screams, so I’m gonna put 3 in his lunch box. 

At school

“AGHHHHHH,” Cedric screamed, “SPIDER SPIDER!!!” 

That was my imagination working its magic again. I was just imagining what his face would be like once he saw the spiders in his lunch box. I was just waiting for lunchtime to come and for him to realize that someone pranked him. 

Lunchtime

He’s starting to open his lunchbox, any moment now. 

“AGHHHHHH,” Cedric screams, “SPIDER SPIDER!!!”

Everyone bursts out laughing and yelling, “It’s fake Cedric,” even his groupies are laughing at him. He stormed over to me angrily and got in my face. 

“I know this was you Thomas, and you’re dead.” 

He starts to fling punches at me but he forgot one thing, I know kung fu. Hey, don’t be surprised my mom made me for self protection. I block his punches and pin him down on the floor. 

“Don’t make me hurt you Cedric,” I warned him, “I wasn’t lying about knowing kung fu.” 

“I will obliterate you,” he shrieks as he flips over and socks me in the jaw, “Take that you idiot.” 

“What’s happening here?” someone asks. The whole cafeteria stops and turns to see Mr. George.

“Again, what’s happening here?” Mr. George says, “Why are Thomas and Cedric fighting?” 

Cedric calls out, “I was just eating my lunch when suddenly Thomas came and started punching me.” 

“That’s not true,” I yell, “He came over and punched me after I pranked him.” 

“Oh so you pranked him and then he got angry at you and then you started fighting, right?”

“Well…” 

“Right?” 

“Yes,” I whisper

“Okay then come with me to the principal’s office,” he says as he escorts me to the principal’s office.

*********************

“Thomas Lee Chen,” the Principal Reyes says.

Oh no, I’m in big trouble. When a teacher uses your full name then you know you did something wrong.

“Y-Yes?” I ask.

“I know things have been hard for you ever since you moved from China to Texas, but that gives you no reason to prank Cedric and then fight him,” she says, “In fact that is violation to rule #1. For no reason may a child be in physical contact with another child. Instead they should be conflicted to settle differences peacefully.” 

“I’m sorry Principal Reyes,” I say, “but Cedric was bullying me because my mother isn’t here and he keeps being mean and cruel to me.” 

“If that is so, then why haven’t you told a single teacher about it,” she asks, “then we would’ve had a nice long talk with Cedric’s parents and possibly get him suspended for a short period of time.” 

“I didn’t feel that any teachers would even listen,” I say, “I don’t feel comfortable sharing that kind of information with adults who aren’t my current supervisor.”

“Alright then, I will have a nice talk with your father about this,” she says, “but consider this a warning.

“Thank you.”

*********************

At home my father tells me to meet him in my room.

“Thomas,” he says, “getting into fights at school, unacceptable.” 

“Dad, I,” 

“No I understand,” he says, surprising me, “I got into fights at school as well, people would bully me because they thought I was nerdy.”

“I’m proud of you for standing up for your mom and taking things so seriously,” he says, “Principal Reyes told me that you just were fighting for self defence and not because you wanted to fight but because you were trying to protect yourself.” 

“I took lessons on kung fu, I had to use it,” I say, “and I didn’t want to hurt him.”

“You know, your mother was the exact same as you, she wouldn’t let anybody make fun of me without them leaving happier than they were before,” he says, “I miss your mother so much.” 

“Me too,” I reply. 

“But I have some good news,” he says, “she’s coming to visit us soon.”

“WHAT!!”

“Yup,” he says with a grin, “I’m happy too.”

“Well what are we waiting for,” I scream, “we have to get this place clean before mom comes.” 

“You’re right, let’s get started”

*********************

The next day at school, Cedric walks up to me. 

“Hey Thomas,” he says, “Sorry for making you feel bad all school year.”

I’m surprised and proud at the same time. 

“It’s just, well I’m depressed because my great grandmother passed away recently,” he says, “a-and,” he bursts into tears.

“Hey, it’s okay,” I say, “my mom is on the other side of the world and my sister is stuck in her room always on the brink of being sick, so I know how you feel.” 

“Y-you do?” he sniffles. 

“Of course, and we can always be there for each other if things get tough okay.” 

“Thank you,” he says, “I’ve never met someone who feels the exact same way that I do.”

“We’ve been through similar situations that’s why I can understand you so well,” I say, “I just wish we could’ve been friends earlier.”

“Yeah sorry about that, I thought you were just another person that would make fun of me so I made fun of you.” 

“That doesn’t even make sense,” I say. 

“Yeah I know.”

So, Cedric and I become friends and we help each other when times are tough. We would go around and look for people that looked like they were having tough times or maybe just were being mistreated and helped them out and soon the entire school was just a big, happy, and completely different family. 

*********************

1 Month Later

“Where is mommy,” my sister asked, “I want to hug her and give her these flowers.”

“I’m sure she’ll be here soon honey,” Dad said, “After all, her flight landed 5 minutes ago, she still needs to walk all the way.”

Then we saw her. I can’t believe that I finally got to see her after a whole year of her being away. She looked a little more tired than she did before, but still I could see the joy and love in her eyes. As she runs over to us, she starts crying. 

“Mommy!”

“Hello my little darling,” she says. I hardly even recognize her voice anymore, it’s been such a long time since we left for Texas. 

“Hi Mommy,” I say feeling choked up, “I missed you.”

“And I missed you too.”

My dad walks over slowly and hugs her so tight I don’t think she can breathe, then he lifts her in the air and starts laughing.

“I missed you so much!”

“Well what are we waiting for,” she says, “I want to see how well you guys cleaned your rooms.”

*********************

After we come back home, my mom asks me to come with her to my room. 

“Lee,” she says, “I understand that school has been tough on you and you made decisions that you regret.”

“Yeah,” I answered.

“You get bullied because you are different, right?” 

“Yeah, but I took care of it by myself.” 

“Really?”

“Yup,” I say proudly.

“Well I’m surprised that my little shy boy, the one who used to cry everyday mommy dropped him off at school, took care of everything by himself,” she says.

“Yeah,” I reply, “I became friends with him because I realized that we were so much alike and he and I were going through the same thing.”

“Well, that reminds me of a saying my father used to say to me,” she says, “‘Our differences bring out our similarities’.” 

“Yeah,” I say, “Maybe, just maybe, we aren’t as different from each other than we think.”

“I’m so proud of you Lee.”

“Thank you for finally coming back mom,” I say, “things were not as much fun without you and now I feel like I actually have a full family.”

“I think that now is the best time to tell you why I was gone for so long,” she says. 

“Wait, I thought you were taking care of nǎi nǎi,” I say, “you’re telling me that there was another reason why you were gone for so long?”

“Yes,” she says, “the truth is that we were finding a cure for Amy’s sickness, and we found one!”

“Wait, WHAT?!” I shriek. 

“Yes, and now she can finally go to school with you!” 

“YES,” I scream, “now it really is a complete family, thank you so much mom!”

“You’re welcome.” 

THE END, Or is it?