Trouble at School

"What happened to you?" Veronika asked Billy when he and Mariah came in.

Billy had a bandage on his face.

"It was a rough day at school," Billy sighed.
"Billy got into a fight," Mariah said. "He was defending my honor!"

"Fights are not good, no matter the reason, Mariah," Veronika said.

"Billy, tell me what happened," Veronika suggested.
"Well," Billy began, "Richie and Tom were picking on Mariah during recess. They called her a word I never heard before, but it sounded ugly."

"That's right," Mariah said. "I didn't know what it meant, either, but it sounded awful the way they said it. It made me feel bad. I wanted to cry."

"Richie said Mariah must be dumb, because her vinyl is a dark color," Billy went on. "Mariah is one of the smartest dolls I know, and even if she weren't it isn't nice to make fun of dolls who have difficulty with things. So I punched him in the nose."

Veronika shook her head. "So he hit you back," she suggested.

"Yes," Billy agreed. "Then a teacher came and took us both to the nurse and then to the principal. The principal told us that it's wrong to hit other dolls, no matter what they have done."

"The principal is right, Billy," Veronika said. "It's good that you wanted to help Mariah, and Richie and Tom were very naughty to pick on her, but hitting doesn't solve problems."

"But I had to do something!" Billy exclaimed. "Mariah is my friend and my sister, and what they were saying was unkind! I was very angry."

"It made me feel very bad," Mariah said. "I was glad Billy wanted to help."

"It's normal to feel angry sometimes, Billy," Veronika said. "It's what you do with that anger that's important." She thought for a moment. "It sounds like Tom was just going along with Richie," she suggested. "Tell me what you know about Richie."

"Well, Mariah began, "Richie doesn't do well in class. I think he doesn't do his homework and doesn't study."

"We had a spelling test today," Mariah continued. "I got all the words right, but Richie missed a lot of them. He said I must have cheated," she said, "but I didn't!"

"Of course you didn't!" Veronika exclaimed. "You are a very smart doll, and you study. You know that cheating is wrong, too, and that if you make mistakes on a test it helps you find out what you need to work on."

"Then why would he say that I cheated and that he knew I must be dumb because my vinyl is dark?" Mariah wanted to know.

"Sometimes dolls are naughty to get attention or to make themselves feel better when they don't think they are good enough," Veronika replied. "Some dolls are so unhappy and afraid that they have to believe they are better than others because of the way they look, like the color of their vinyl."

"That's very sad," said Billy.
"It is sad," Veronika agreed. "We need to help dolls who feel bad about themselves by setting a good example for them. So, Billy, what do you think you could have done when you found the boys picking on Mariah?" Veronika asked.

Billy thought for a minute. He looked at Mariah. "Maybe I should have just shown that Mariah was my friend," he suggested. "I could have asked her to help me study for the next spelling test. I missed two of the words."

"That's a very good idea, Billy, because it shows them than you know Mariah is a good student," Veronika said.
"Then we could have walked away together," Mariah suggested.

"You could do that, but you don't need to walk away unless you are afraid, Mariah," Veronika said. "I think they want to get attention and make you feel bad. If you stay where you are but ignore them and don't let them get you into a fight or argument, you will do more good. Both of you could pretend you didn't hear the bad things they said, even though they might have said even worse things to you both, because you were spoiling their fun. You would be setting a good example of how to treat other dolls and showing them that they couldn't make you be naughty, too."

"Remember that Monday was a holiday?" Veronika went on. "It was the day each year when we honor a great man named Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He taught us not to give in to mean people, but not to fight back by hitting, either. He said, 'Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.' If you are kind to dolls who are mean to you, they don't enjoy being mean so much. They might even begin to respect you."
Would Richie and Tom start being nice, then?" Billy asked.

"That would be up to them," Veronika explained. "We can't make others be nice. They have to learn that on their own, but we can help by setting a good example. Besides, when you set a good example for other dolls, you will feel better about yourself."
"One thing still worries me, though," Mariah said, looking down at her beautiful, chocolaty hands. "Does the color of a doll's vinyl mean they are smarter or dumber? I don't know how that works."

"Well," Veronika said, "dolls can be smarter or not as smart, because we are all different, but it has nothing to do with what you look like. We can be good at some things and not as good at others. Life experiences also change us, so we learn to use our abilities or we don't. A lot of it is up to us. The important thing is to be the best Mariah and Billy that you can be."
"Now I feel bad that I hit Richie," Billy said. "Now I feel sorry for him instead of hating him."

"I feel sorry for them both," Mariah said. "Tom went along with Richie, and he shouldn't have. Why did he do that? I wonder if he feels bad about himself, too. I'm sorry I hated them."

"What you're feeling is guilt, because you didn't know they are unhappy. What do you suppose you can do with that feeling?" Veronika asked.
"Maybe I can tell Richie I'm sorry I hit him," Billy answered.
"Maybe we can be nice to Richie and Tom," Mariah suggested.
"You are both very smart dolls," Veronika said, getting up. "You learn from your mistakes, and you try to be the best dolls that you can be. Now, you must be pretending to be hungry. Let's go have a snack."

Cast--
Veronika: Götz Classic Kidz Vroni
Mariah: Götz Happy Kidz Mariah, "Chosen" from My Doll Best Friend
Billy: Götz Happy Kidz Lily of London

Note: No dolls were harmed during production of this blog. All dolls shown are Götz Happy Kidz or Classic Kidz. If you like these stories and are willing, please make a donation of any amount to a charity that supports pediatric cancer, such as CURE Childhood Cancer or St. Baldrick's Foundation.
"The Doll's Storybook" is not affiliated with Gotz Dolls USA Inc. or Götz Puppenmanufaktur International GmbH.
Watch for the next story each Friday afternoon at 2:00 PM Pacific Time.

Copyright © 2019, 2024 by Peggy Stuart