There was a little girl, Asma, who was bullied by everyone, because her family was not literate. But her mother belonged to a literate family. Her mother was the only bread-earner of their household.

Asma was not good at studies. She tried to study hard, but her class fellows always diverted her mind. But Asma didn’t give up, because she thought that giving up was not the solution to her problem.

Asma never shared these things with her mother, because she thought that her mother would feel bad, and would blame herself for everything. However, one day Asma was very disturbed by the treatment of her classmates and decided to tell everything to her mother.

When Asma finished telling her everything, her mother said, “You should believe in yourself, you should be strong and be persistent. First, you’ve to learn how to respect yourself. Don’t seek appreciation from someone else. Do not compromise your self-esteem for people. Your self-respect should be stronger than your feelings. Never let emotions take control of your decisions, and never give up and do not lose hope.

“Have faith in God, because God has better plans for you. You may have to struggle a little, there may be people who will point a finger at you, but still you have to be strong and never lose hope. You have to try, and you have to study hard to make yourself and your parents proud. Asma, we all trust that you can do it. The way you are, that’s unique, and your power is that no one is like you.”

Her mother’s words filled her with happiness, now Asma knew that her mother was with her and believed in her. That gave Asma a lot of confidence and strength.

The next day, Asma went to school with a new “can-do” attitude. Asma was sitting in her class, studying like she had never done before. Some boys came and they pushed Asma. She fell from the chair and everyone started laughing at her. But Asma stayed calm and didn’t say anything. Instead she went to library and started studying there.

One day, Asma was standing in the line to leave the class during recess. Someone pushed her from back. Her lunch fell on the floor, and when her teacher saw her lunch on floor, she immediately came and scolded her. Asma started crying, everyone started laughing and mocking her.

After few days, a new girl joined her class. She was also like Asma, shy, innocent and a hard worker. They both become friends and started studying together and sharing each other’s experiences. After a few months, they both improved at studies and started getting good grades in class. Everyone started respecting them now, wanting to become their friends.

Asma made her family feel proud. She was good at writing, so she started writing stories and articles. Asma started writing articles and then sent them to be published in newspapers. Asma’s first article was about how she struggled to become a good writer. After few weeks, Asma received a mail that her article had been published. Asma was so happy that she started crying. Her family was also happy by Asma’s accomplishments.

After few years, Asma become a famous writer, but her success made her an arrogant girl. Asma now only respected rich and famous people. Asma stopped giving respect to her family, friends and relatives. Instead, she started making famous friends. But they only liked Asma because she was famous and rich.

One day, Asma heard her new friends talking bad about her. It made her sad and angry, but it also made things clearer. Asma realised that she no longer had any friends because she had left her old friends for new and famous ones, but they were not really her true friends. They were with Asma only because of her success and did not know or care for the person that Asma actually was.

She felt lonely. No one was with her, not even her mum. She started missing her mother. Over the years, after shifting to a posh locality to suite her new status and being so busy, Asma had lost all contact with her mother, and now she felt completely alone. It was then that Asma remembered what her mother had told her when she was little: “Without one’s family, a person is nothing. All can leave you, but your family will stay with you forever, no matter what happens.”

Asma fell on ground and started crying. Finally, Asma said to herself, “Yes, family is everything, without my family I am nothing. Only my family loves me for who I am. They loved me when I was nothing and when everyone used to bully me. They will surely love me now too.”

One fine morning, Asma woke up happy because she had decided to go to her home. When Asma arrived at her family home, she knocked at the door. Her mother opened it. Years had taken a toll on her mother, but her feelings didn’t change a bit for her.

Her mother’s eyes blurred with tears of happiness. She quickly opened her harms and Asma rushed into it. They both hugged each other tightly and started crying. Her siblings were also happy to see her, because she had finally come to meet them.

Now Asma realised what had been missing in her life — the love and presence of her near and dear ones. The small house that she had left for the big one she had purchased, now seemed more comfortable because of the love that she got there.

Asma asked her family to come and live in her house with her but they politely refused, saying that they were happy with their life and didn’t need luxuries to live. Instead, they invited Asma back and she quickly accepted because she did not want to be away from them anymore.

One day Asma was in a restaurant when she felt that a woman on another table looked rather familiar. After a few minutes, the woman spoke and hearing her voice confirmed that it was Asma’s childhood best friend. Asma ran towards her, and when her friend saw Asma, in she leaped to her feet and they both hugged each other. They were so happy to meet each other and sat down to catch up with what had been happening in their lives. They exchanged contacts and vowed to remain in touch.

So friends, see how a change in attitude made things so much better and also worst, for Asma? When she was young, her confidence made her overcome difficulties in school, but when she became rich and famous, her arrogance made her miserable and lonely. This all changed for the better once she realised what really matters in life — family!

Published in Dawn, Young World, July 24th, 2021