Long, long ago, in Portland, Oregon, Janice and her family lived in a very nice place. Janice’s father had to move to be a teacher, and Janice and her family had to move away from her old home. Her new neighborhood was very different from Janice’s old neighborhood which made her feel weird. 

   HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY JANICE!

Janice's Presents: 

Janice saw many differences between her and the other kids at her new neighborhood which made her sad. But after the move, it was Janice’s 8th birthday and her parents bought her three pretty dolls. She named them Zara, Deborah, and Amara.

What is that girl doing here? She doesn't belong here...

        Janice goes to her first day of school at her new school and she is very excited. Janice’s mom makes sure that she has prepared her favorite outfit, her hair to be in pigtails, just the way she likes them, and to pack her favorite sandwich. Janice soon goes off to school and arrives. She sees that a lot of kids are looking at her funny and not getting close to her. Janice notices that the kids are not like the kids at her old school. She is the only one with black hair and everyone else has yellow hair. 

        After Janice’s class ends she eats her lunch and no one is sitting with her. Janice feels very sad because she feels like she is weird. All the kids look at her and stare while she eats her lunch. 

What is she still doing here? 

        After lunch, Janice goes back to class and someone says hi. Her name is Emily. Emily is Janice’s first friend at her new school. She is very happy and goes back home to tell her mom about her new friend, Emily.

        The next day, Janice comes to school and she still sees everyone getting away from her and staring at her. Janice starts to feel lonely and shy because she feels like she does not fit in with the people at her school. 

Everyone is leaving me out and I feel alone, Emily. 

        Soon, Janice decides to tell her close friend, Emily, about how sad she has been feeling because the other kids have been leaving her out. After lunchtime, Emily and Janice come back from the lunch area and back to the classroom where Janice said, “Emily, can I tell you something?” Emily agrees to listen and Janice continues by telling Emily how the other girls and boys are not letting her play tag at recess. Janice explains how this is making her feel sad and lonely because she has no one to eat or play with during recess and lunch. 

Well the other kids don't do that to me so maybe it's something you did...

        Emily told Janice that they were not doing the same to her and how maybe Janice had done something to them.  After Emily told Janice about how the kids weren’t treating her the same way, Janice felt misheard and more sad because her close friend was not on her side.

Just a little word of advice, Janice. Not everyone is going to like and so you just have to accept that fact and move forward.

    After talking with her friend, Janice decided that maybe her teacher could help. Janice walked up to her teacher, Mrs. Johnson, and said “Mrs. Johnson, I feel left out, all of the other kids don’t ever talk to me. It is making me feel sad and lonely, what do I do?”. Mrs. Johnson replied, “Janice, not everybody is going to like you, so you just have to be strong”. This was not what Janice was looking for, and it made her feel even more lonely. She felt like nobody wanted to listen to her, and that everybody hated her even though she had done nothing wrong to anybody. Finally, the bell rang and Janice ran home, crying about how nobody helped her with her problem. 

Michael...I feel alone at school and I'm really sad.

        When Janice arrived at home, she ran right to her room, shut the door, and started to cry. Her older brother, Michael heard her from the room next door, and asked her what was wrong. Janice replied, “Michael, nobody wants to listen to me at school. I feel lonely, and none of the other kids want to be with me because I look different from everyone else. I tried telling my best friend, and she said that it was my fault. Then I tried telling my teacher and she just said that I had to be strong. I don’t know what to do anymore, can you please help me with my problem?”. 

HAHAHAHA LOOK AT YOU, you're such a crybaby. Get over it.

Michael just started laughing at her and said, “You’re being a crybaby! Wah! Wah! Wah!”. Michael then shut the door and went back to his room.

I wish I had friends like you guys have each other...I'm so lonely at school and have no one.

You have us, Janice. 

        After talking with her older brother, Janice feels even more sad and angry. She starts crying and talking to her dolls. Janice says to the three dolls, “I wish I had friends like you guys have each other.” 

        “You have us,” Janice hears. She says hello this time and the dolls respond back. Her dolls, Zara, Deborah, and Amara start talking to her, telling Janice not to cry and asking why she is sad. Janice tells them that no one likes her and how she does not have anybody to play with at lunch and recess. Janice feels alone in her town. 

I'm a Christian and Jesus taught me through the bible to always love everyone even those who may have hurt you.

        The dolls suddenly ask, “May we show you something?” Janice nods her head and her doll Deborah starts to talk. 

        “Hey Janice, I know you’re feeling sad right now, but I have something that might make you feel better. Recently I started to believe in God, God is someone who we can’t see, but he is the most powerful thing in the world. Some people believe different things about God, but I believe that God loves every human being, including you. This is part of my belief in Christianity, which is one way of thinking about God. God sent his son to the world a long time ago for him to make mean people become nice . His name was Jesus and he was a teacher and a doctor. He healed so many people who had boo boos and he taught people how to love each other (Bernock). Jesus said to love the people who hate and do you wrong and pray for the people who do not treat you right (Skinker). Jesus also said to never try to do something hurtful to someone who did something hurtful to you but to forgive and love them instead (GotQuestions.org). So, Janice, Jesus loves you and he wants you to never hate anyone even though they make you feel sad or hurt, you need to love them (Babauta).” 

        After Janice had learned about Christinaity from Deborah, Janice wanted to go to school the next day and use what Deborah had taught her to show love to the kids at school who made her feel sad. 

In Yoruba, forgiveness is the only way to have a happy town of people is to forgive the people who hurt you, Janice.

Then Amara sat next to Janice and started to talk about something called the Yoruba. Amara explained to Janice that the Yoruba was a belief that came from Africa where Amara was born. She told Janice about how forgiveness is the journey that the person who is hurt takes to change their feelings towards the person who hurt them. Amara started to talk about the many stories that go around about forgiveness in the religion (Feiler). She explains how the stories teach people about what to do to live happily and peacefully (Madu). Amara tells Janice that the Yoruba believe that forgiveness is the only way to have the best neighborhood (Megenney). Amara started to tell Janice that only she could choose to forgive her classmates and create a happy space or to stay angry at them (Onayemi).