It was a bright and sunny April morning, with a heavenly sound of sparrows chirping in the trees nearby. Reema woke up with a jump. “It’s my birthday today!” she began, quite startling her poor dog Sally. She ran downstairs with excitement overflowing every vein in her body. Her mother smiled at her excitement, and her father  placed a huge wrapped box in front of her, wishing her a very happy birthday. Reema’s eyes gleamed as bright as rubies with joy.
“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you ” she said, giving each of them a tight hug. Then, she sat down to open her present. Inside, was the most beautiful dress she had ever seen. It was bright yellow in colour- which was Reema’s favourite colour- with elegant orange frills. She felt that she would be a little princess if she wore that dress. The magnificent dress seemed to call out to her, asking to be worn to show off its beauty. “It is beautiful!” Reema said wholeheartedly.
She then got a few more presents from others in her family. Her older sister gave her a lovely bunch of flowers that gave a sweet scent, and her grandparents gave her Five-hundred rupees
for buying anything she wanted to. Why…Even dear little Sally brought in a small shiny stone for her beloved mistress.
Reema was overjoyed by now. She really felt that this would be the best birthday one could ever have, and the day had barely even started! After a huge breakfast, full of things Reema liked the
most, the raven haired girl made her way down to school, thinking about what would be in store for her today. Deep in thought, Reema did not notice another girl running up to her. “Hi Reema,
Happy Birthday!” the girl squealed. “Manu! Great to see you here. Thank you.” Reema said, happy that her best friend was on time to school for once.
After reaching the school grounds, Reema got a few more birthday wishes and pats on the back. After a little chat with her friends, she settled down in her seat waiting for the teacher to begin the class. The day’s english lesson interested Reema very much. It was about the art of helping others. It talked about the qualities every human should have in them and this inspired Reema to make a few resolutions on her birthday, one of them being to help others wherever she could. And that gave her an interesting idea.
In the recess, she shared her thoughts with a few of her friends and they all really liked the intriguing thought Reema had. That afternoon, Reema and her friends headed down to the staff
room. Students seldom came, at least not until they were called, so the teachers were surprised to see six children there. Reema spoke in a respectful way, “Good afternoon teachers, today is my birthday, so I thought it would be nice if I could share some toffees and sweets with you.”
Normally, students shared treats only with each other, so the teachers were definitely moved by the young girl. “Sure, come in!” Ms. Mendeleev said, their science teacher. Miss Mandelev was
most students’ favourite teacher. She was very kind and caring, and she never scolded them for talking in class sometimes.
Reema was quite a social girl. She spoke and made friendship with others very easily. So in a millisecond, she was out passing the toffees and sweets she brought initially for her friends with
the teachers, but none of her friends were upset about this. Everyone felt that it was a gesture of gratitude to the teachers for shaping each student a better citizen of tomorrow.
The six children’s presence had brought quite a change to the dull and silent staff room. It was now full of cheer and happiness. There was laughter and joy all around, and this makes up any
teacher’s day. Even the most grumpy and angry of the teachers, Mrs.Murthy madam who taught them mathematics, looked a little pleased with the presence of these wonderful children. She
did confisticate the toys that Reema’s friend Raju had brought to school, but she returned them after Raju promised not to get them again. She was actually smiling and gave Reema a pat on
the back when she came to give the teacher a few sweets too.
Some grades had recently written their term exams, and the teacher’s desks were filled with bundles of papers that needed to be corrected. With the help of these children running small
errands, carrying books to classes, uploading marks from each paper into the files, the work of all the teachers was a lot easier.
The whole experience made Reema awestruck. “Who knew that the life of a teacher is so hectic.” Chat said, another one of Reema’s friends. I am going to go help that teacher over there
to carry those heavy books.” All the kids did whatever they could to help, and this got quite a lot of work done faster than usual. The teachers were quite thankful for these kids and were proud
of them for being so kind and thoughtful.
Before anyone knew, the bell rang, indicating the end of the lunch break. “Who knew that time flies like an arrow when we are having fun!” one of the children said to the teachers. “And moves like a snail when we are doing homework!” Manu whispered to her friends. They all began grinning and had to run out into the dorms with a hurried goodbye as they were all resisting huge fits of laughter.
Reema was very happy about how her birthday turned out. It wasn’t everyday that you do something exquisite like this. She ran home, urging to tell her mom and dad about the day’s happenings. Both her parents were very astounded and proud when they got to know that
Reema distributed the toffees and sweets to the teachers instead of her friends. When she finished her story, her dad had a small surprise waiting for her. He said,”Reema, you have done some remarkable things today, and I am quite proud of you and your friends for helping the teachers. So, I have a small treat for you all. But, you have one condition to keep up!”
Reema’s mind began racing as quick as the speed of the internet. ‘What would they have to do? Reema wondered. Turn cartwheels? Recite the poem they had been learning at school the past
week? Sing a song?’ She looked at her father questioningly.
“You must promise me to keep up the good work.” he said with a smile.
“Oh father, that, I can assure you we will. Everyone seemed to be very happy today, and if our work is helping others, we would be very glad to do so.” Reema said with confidence.
Her father gave Reema and her friends a treat from the office he works at. He was incharge of maintaining the Paper Boat juice factory that had recently begun and was glad to get six bottles
of the juice for the kids that had not even been released out to the public yet.
This was just the beginning of a new age of heroes for the world. These six children later grew up to form their own organisation and with Reema leading them, they began to help the sick and needy by providing them relief packs and visiting them to make sure things are fine.
NOTE- This story teaches us the true definition of a human being. Being helpful and selfless are some of the qualities every human should have or be willing to learn, because helping others should also be like a natural reflex, like swimming is for fish. It also shows that a little warmth can go a long way. Thank your teachers, parents, and every other person that shaped you to be the person you are today. And to whatever you can in your power to make things easier for them. Because only together, things feel easier to do, and even the most impossible of tasks say that ‘I am possible.’ Learn that only together with each other’s support, the world won’t be
such a mystery afterall.