Kasim and Courtesy

“Kasim say hello to your uncle.” Daddy said.

“No thank you?” Mrs Badru, Kasim’s teacher asked when she helped him open his lunchbox.

Kasim did not understand why everyone kept telling him to greet, say thank you and so on. Most times he ignored them, other times he grudgingly obeyed.

One day, Kasim’s teacher called him to her table. Let’s learn some new words from the dictionary. She opened it and told him the meaning of respect, courtesy and appreciation.

Mrs Badru explained that you show courtesy to remind yourself that there are other human beings besides you, respect is to show other people they are important and God, He did well in creating these other humans while appreciating people is thanking God for loving you that he sent people to help you when you are in need whether little or big.

The important words are, please, excuse me, sorry and thank you. We should always use them when we relate with people and they are needed. It doesn’t matter who the person is, do you understand? Life is not all about you, it’s like puzzle pieces where all the parts are needed to make a whole picture and these words are part of what brings the pieces together. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Mrs Badru” Kasim now understood what the whole fuss was about and he promised his teacher to begin using the words from that day. He told her, “thank you.” and left.

Kasim changed from that day to the delight of his parents. He never needed prompting again for he now knew why he should use the appropriate words. He forgot sometimes but he always remembered Mrs Badru’s words about puzzle pieces and this made remembering easier.