Andrea the Ugly

        In schools, the subject of “bullying” was being given a lot of importance because the abuse of other children was getting out of control. The victims, out of fear, kept the abuse secret. For this reason, when a group of girls began to bother and make fun of poor Andrea, immediate action was taken. 

        Poor Andrea was never accepted into soccer teams or physical education activities. They said amongst themselves that they didn't want to hang out with them because she was so ugly. She was never invited to birthday parties. She had a physical defect. Her eyes were unfortunately placed on the sides. If she looked at you from the front, the shape of her face made her look like a fish. She went to a private school but made a lot of sacrifices for her grandmother. Her personality was quiet and shy. Her clothes were clean but not the latest fashion. The accessories on her uniform were non-existent. While the other girls had bows, lots of bracelets, expensive brand name bags and cell phones. Poor Andrea did her best to not draw attention to herself so that she would be left alone and no one would verbally abuse her. 

        She attended church and her grandmother did not allow her to do many things that, to students who do not understand or respect her, she was strange or crazy. She was not an outstanding student but she was artistic, kind and if she had been given the opportunity she would have been a good friend.

        One day I went to pick up my daughter from school and I noticed Andrea. The first thing I noticed was that she had a different face and that she reminded me of a fish. I noticed that while everyone was in a group, Andrea was alone waiting for someone to come pick her up. I don't know why I felt sorry for her but I didn't make any comments to my daughter at that moment. 

        Let a few days go by and the pattern was the same. Andrea was alone, waiting. I invited my little girl to eat ice cream and while we were sitting, I asked my supposedly saintly girl, “Who was the little girl who was always alone while they ran around the yard having fun?” She answered me very sincerely, “She is Andrea the ugly one and nobody wants to play with her because she is weird.”

        I raised my little girl with the motto: I like things clear and I will respect you more even if you are a girl than if you tell me the truth than a lie.” I always repeated it to her because I wanted it to be engraved in her soul. It seems that the motto was engraved in her because she did not hesitate when she told me that. She continued enjoying her ice cream as if nothing had happened. I was in a state of shock because I could not believe that my precious little girl told me the truth but without an ounce of compassion. She did not see the suffering that Andrea was going through.   

        Now I was going to have to come up with something to make her see Andrea's pain. I didn't know how I was going to do it. I wanted her to see her lack of compassion. She was only in fourth grade and there was still hope to teach her compassion for others.  

        My little girl loved stories, crayons, and playing. I drew a story for her and wrote a story for her. I asked GOD to please give me the perfect moment so I could read the story and that she would be in the mood to hear the story. God was so good that he gave me the perfect moment and she was very curious and surprised to see that I had made a story for her.  

        I told him that there was once a guitar lying in a corner of the garage where everything that was not used was kept. Everything that was thrown away in the garage eventually ended up in the trash or was donated to someone. One day it was decided to clean out the garage and the guitar was put aside to be donated. There were people who were dedicated to fixing musical instruments and then they donated them to people who wanted to play the instrument but did not have the budget to buy one. 

        There was a boy who wanted to learn to play guitar but he wanted one of those expensive electric ones. His mother thought that if he got a regular guitar he would learn the basics on it and maybe in the future an electric one would come along if he showed that he was really interested in learning. The mother was chosen and a guitar was donated to him. She lovingly cleaned the guitar case which was a bit beat up. At least the case would protect the guitar from any knocks.   

        Mother was finally overjoyed to get home to give her pretty boy his present. When she arrived and gave him the case, the boy looked at it with disdain. What the hell is this? The case is broken, it smells old and the least it has is electricity. The frustrated mother started to cry and the spoiled brat left the house with great anger with the guitar in his hand. He was red in the face from the great anger he felt. He lived in San Juan on the eighth beach, he climbed on some rocks and took the guitar out of the case and threw it into the sea. As this is a story, the wood was waterproof so it would not be damaged in the sea. The poor guitar that did not want to be ugly cried inconsolably because it was thrown into the sea like garbage.  

        A beautiful fish with different colored scales came by and asked him why he was crying and the guitar told him what had happened. He felt so sad that he cried tears of salt. An octopus came closer and the fish told him what had happened and so all kinds of sea fish continued to come to hear this sad story. There were rumors that humans were bad but this confirmed it. They all came together to help the guitar. The octopus arranged it so that it was straight. The fish with the multi-colored scales gave the octopus permission to remove all the scales he needed to stick them to the wood. The little stars from the sea were also donated to decorate the guitar. The strings became gold strings. The guitar became beautiful with so many colored scales and star decorations. The guitar felt the love that these little sea animals showed it. 

        All this happened because a group made the decision to help the poor ugly guitar and give it love. It took many hours to decorate the guitar and night fell. The moon came out and it was full. Suddenly, in the sea, a beautiful mermaid was seen swimming towards the group. The octopus and the others told the beautiful mermaid what had happened. With much love, she picked it up from the sea floor, began to play it and sing. The golden strings made the melodies sound heavenly. The mermaid kept the guitar forever and every month during the full moon, the beautiful mermaid's song could be heard with her happy guitar because now she had someone who loved her and wanted to be her friend.   

        So I was able to explain to my little girl that she had to have that same compassion for Andrea. That she had to play the role of the mermaid and not the heartless boy. She would have to be the brave one of the group and bring Andrea into her group and defend her. Daddy GOD was watching her and was going to smile when he saw her compassion. 

        My daughter accepted the challenge. She showed it when preparations were being made for her next birthday and Andrea had a guest card and said in a firm voice that whoever didn't want to go because Andrea was ugly and weird shouldn't go. She would enjoy her birthday however she wanted.

         All the guests arrived and Andrea became part of the group and was accepted.

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