Showing Compassion: Anisa’s Guest Blog

When I came into school on Monday, I was excited to talk to Blake about what he did over the weekend. He told me on Friday that he’s been learning how to do a kickflip on his skateboard, and I wanted to know if he finally did it. When he walked into class, though, I knew right away that something seemed different about him. He usually walks in smiling and comes over to say hi, but today he walked in slowly and sat down at his desk without talking to anyone. During class, he didn’t raise his hand once, even though we’re talking about the history of soccer, which is one of his favorite sports.

After class, I caught up to him in the hall and asked him how his weekend was. He sighed. “Not great,” he said, looking at the floor. “I was getting really close to doing a kickflip, but just when I thought I had it, I fell off my board and twisted my ankle. My dads say I can’t skateboard for two whole weeks while it heals, which means I have to miss the competition I was going to enter this weekend.” He looked like he might cry. “I’ve been practicing forever and I was really looking forward to it, and now I’m just going to have to sit at home.”

I felt terrible. I wanted to make him feel better, but I couldn’t think of what to say. My thoughts raced trying to find the right words, but I couldn’t come up with anything better than “I’m sorry.”

“Thanks,” he replied, but he didn’t seem to cheer up at all, and he barely talked for the rest of the day. I felt a pit in my stomach when I thought about Blake spending the next two weeks feeling sad. I knew I had to do something.

When I got home, I found my parents and told them what happened. “I don’t know what to do,” I said. “I want to help, but it feels like nothing I say or do will be enough to really make him feel better. I wish I could just magically heal his ankle so he could skateboard again.”

“Even though you can’t change what happened, you can always show him that you care and that you are there for him.” My mom said. “Even something small can make a big difference if it lets him know that you want to help.”

It was then that an idea popped into my head that would show Blake how much his friends care. When I got to school the next day, I found Gabriel and Jade and told them my plan. I wanted to make Blake a custom comic book where he’s a skateboarding superhero, and I needed their help. Gabriel reads lots of comic books and draws his own sometimes, and Jade is a great writer. Since I’m an artist too, I figured all of us together could come up with a cool comic book just for Blake!

“That sounds like a great idea!” said Jade.

“Yeah, count me in!” Gabriel exclaimed.

We worked straight through recess and met up after school to finish. When we gave it to Blake the next day, his face lit up with a huge smile. “This is so cool!” he exclaimed. “You guys seriously made this?”

We nodded. “We wanted to show you that we think you’re an awesome skateboarder,” I said, “and we can’t wait to come and see you in your next competition!”

Blake beamed. “Thanks guys, this means a lot.”

Operation Cheer Up Blake was a success! Even though we couldn’t fix the problem for him, it felt great to know that we had made a difference and helped him to feel better.