The Greatest Lesson
Author: Andrew Carnright
Illustrator/Pictures: Google Images
School/Group: Orange Ulster BOCES
Jimmy lived his life like any normal teenager would. He worked hard in school, participated in sports, and liked to hang out with his friends on the weekends. Jimmy was part of the so-called popular crowd and he and his friends viewed themselves as the coolest kids in the school.
Jimmy always thought that the things he liked were what everyone should like, and he often made fun of others who looked or acted different than him. Him and his friends would laugh at and tease different groups of students who they saw as "losers" or "freaks."
All of that changed the day Jimmy was partnered up with a boy named Eric to complete a project for English class. Eric wore eccentric clothes, listened to strange music, and was friends with what Jimmy and his friends would call the "freaks." He was one of those kids that Jimmy had made fun of in the hallway just a few days earlier.
As part of their project Jimmy and Eric had to meet outside of school and create a presentation on William Shakespeare. Jimmy was embarrassed to be seen with Eric in public so he arranged to go work on the project at Eric's house.
Jimmy and Eric had to work together on this project for several hours a week. At first Jimmy still looked at Eric as a "freak," because of the way that he looked, however he soon began to realize how wrong he really was. All of his prejudices and stereotypes began to dissolve away as he began to learn more about Eric and his family.
Jimmy was shocked to learn that he and Eric really had a ton of things in common. They both loved baseball and were both huge Mets fans. They both attended the same church on Sundays, although Jimmy had never noticed before. They even loved to watch the same movies and TV shows.
By the time Jimmy and Eric completed their project they had become friends. While some people may still have viewed Eric as a "freak," Jimmy now knew that these opinions were ignorant and unfair. From that day forward when Jimmy's friends tried to make fun of people they viewed as different, Jimmy would make them stop and tell them how wrong they were to act like bully's.
Jimmy and Eric remained friends throughout High School and on into college, however they eventually grew apart as the years went on. Jimmy never forgot the lesson he learned from Eric, the lesson that we should never judge a book by it's cover.