The Bright Star by Hatch Brider Once upon a time there was a world full of beautiful little homes.
There were homes in all countries,
In all the seven continents of the world.
If you looked at this world from somewhere far in the sky,
It would be very hard to find at night.
Why?
Because this world had no light,
You see.
All of the homes in this world were dark.
Every day the sun would visit them and all the homes would have light that would come from outside and in through their windows.
And when it was time for the sun to leave,
There would be only darkness because these homes had no light inside them.
So the days went on like this for quite a while.
One winter day,
A young boy was walking to the park to play with his friends.
As he was walking,
He noticed another young boy riding a bike and crossing the street.
All of a sudden the boy on the bike fell and was obviously hurt.
The young boy who was walking to the park noticed a thought come to his mind.
Should he stop and help the boy or should he keep going?
And then he heard a soft whisper from his heart tell him to go help the boy on the bike.
And so he did.
He ran over to him and asked,
Are you OK?
Can I help you?
The boy on the bike smiled and said,
Yes,
Please.
My knee is hurting.
Can you please help me stand up?
The young boy helped him up.
The boy on the bike put his arm around the other boy because he was having trouble walking and balancing by himself.
The helpful boy chose to ask,
Where is your home so I can help you get home?
The boy with the bike pointed to his home and said,
Are you sure you have time?
To which the boy replied,
Yes,
This is more important than what I was going to do.
And so the boy helped the other boy with the bike get home safely and then happily went to the park to play with his friends.
As always,
The sun went to sleep that day and the world became dark again.
The boy used the little moonlight to walk home from the park and just as he stepped inside his home,
To his surprise,
He noticed that his home lit up.
There was a magical light coming from inside his home.
He looked curiously outside his window to check if all the other homes had light coming from within,
But they didn't.
This became a mystery for him,
And soon it became a mystery for all of his neighbors.
Why was his home the only home that had light inside?
No one knew.
What about you?
Can you help this neighborhood solve their mystery?
Let's see.
So this went on for several days and weeks,
And then one day when spring came,
The flowers bloomed and the birds sang and the boy on the bike was walking down a street when he saw a homeless woman sitting on a bench.
She looked sad.
The woman looked at the boy just as he passed by her,
And the boy chose to give the gift of his big,
Bright smile to her.
All of a sudden,
The homeless woman's heart also smiled.
As the boy with the bike stepped inside his home that night,
To his surprise,
His house also lit up from inside.
Months later,
The homeless woman ended up working really hard to build a home for herself,
After which she decided to write a storybook about the boy who gave her the gift of a smile.
All the way across this neighborhood in another country,
In another continent,
A little girl read this book written by that woman.
After reading the book,
She looked out her window and noticed her elderly neighbor sitting outside on his front porch.
She walked out and went to him and said,
I just wanted to say thank you for the beautiful flowers you plant in your garden.
Looking at them every day makes me happy.
The old man was so touched by this little girl's words.
It meant so much to him that she noticed him and his hard work.
That night,
To her surprise,
That girl's house also lit up from inside.
Now it was summer,
And the sun shined brighter than ever,
And that old neighbor went to visit his grandchildren in a country by the beach.
He was playing with the kids when he saw an empty plastic bottle rolling towards the ocean on the beach.
He picked up the bottle right before it entered the water and threw it in the trash.
He felt the soft whisper of the ocean and all of its animals and plants thanking him for saving them from that plastic bottle.
You see,
Plastic is poisonous for the ocean.
And not too far away,
There was a sister and brother who also saw the elderly man save the ocean that warm summer day.
Guess what happened to that old man's home?
When he returned home,
It also lit up from inside.
That's right.
And a few days later,
The sister and brother from the beach who were playing outside,
They went to their home and they saw a hungry little dog that seemed very weak.
The dog was having trouble walking and breathing.
It was a very,
Very hot day that day.
Instantly,
The brother and sister ran inside their home and came out with a big bowl of water and some food for the dog.
The dog drank up all the water and ate up all the food.
And from that day onwards,
The brother and sister always kept a bowl of water and some treats for the dog outside.
And slowly but surely,
The dog felt better and was back to great health.
And of course,
This kind sister and brother's house lit up super bright from inside.
One autumn day when the leaves were golden brown,
That same dog was walking along the street when he saw a family playing catch in their front yard.
All of a sudden,
The ball flew far away and the happy dog ran to fetch it and brought it back to the family.
Grandma,
Grandpa,
Dad,
Mom,
And the two sisters all had so much fun playing with this happy dog that day.
You see,
The dog gave them the gift of joy and play.
Later the same day,
That family saw a dead bee on the floor of their front porch.
The entire family stopped what they were doing,
Came together,
And closed their eyes for a moment.
They sent a prayer and a wish for the little dead bee.
As soon as this family stepped inside their home,
To their surprise,
Their house lit up from inside.
And so,
Slowly but surely,
All the houses in all the countries,
In all the continents,
In all of the world started to light up from inside.
People could not solve the mystery.
What was making all the houses light up?
Can you help us solve the mystery?
What is something similar about all the people whose houses lit up?
What did they do?
That's right.
You see,
Acts of kindness are contagious.
When one person gives a gift of kindness to another form of life,
That life naturally wants to do the same.
And it spreads like magical fireflies flying across the world's sky.
And this is how the magical world became known as the bright star in the sky.
Because now,
If you look at this world from far,
Far away at night,
You see a big bright light.
All because of that one boy who chose to help the boy on the bike one winter day.
The end.
