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A Warrior's Glory is in Humility

 

     Bonaparte was always a clever little dragon. Though he learned fasther than others, when he first arrived at Red Tiger Kung Fu Camp, he was scared and shy, not knowing what would happen. He circled his long scaly body into a tight ball, watching with big eyes as his fellow kung fu brothers and sisters wandered about and chatted with each other happily. He was definitely feeling uncomfortable, like he did not belong.
 
     As a small furry student made her way towards him, he trembled slightly. What if she was mean to him? What if she beat him up? He bundled himself into an even tighter ball and his yellow eyes grew wider.
 
     "Hi!" the small tiger said to him with a smile on her face. "I'm Cassandra. You're Bonaparte, right?"
"Ummm, yes," he said, lifting his head ever so slightly toward her. As they talked softly, he relaxed more and more and realized that she really was friendly. Maybe he did belong after all.
 
     The longer they talked, the more students came over to him to talk. There was Freddy the mantis, Chip the crane and Samuel the snake, Before long, they were all close friends and began to practice their kung fu with each other every day.
 
     Bonaparte trained hard and became very good at doing his techniques. He became so good, in fact, that Sifu often told the other students to watch Bonaparte demonstrate the techniques, using him as an example. Soon, the little dragon started feeling very good about himself, Perhaps a little too good. He began to think he was better than the other students, showing off and hitting them a little too hard when they practiced. He also talked about himself all the time, telling everyone how good his kung fu was.
 
    Slowly, his friends stopped doing things with him. One by one, they stopped eating meals and playing games with him. They even chose other partners in training until he was feeling very lonely.
 
    One day, wise Master Monkey, who in is very wise way sat back and watched the world with knowing eyes. came to Bonaparte and asked him what was wrong. 
 
     "All my friends have stopped talking to me, and they don't seem to like me anymore," the little dragon cried.
 
     "Perhaps it is because they feel you think you are better than them," answered the master. "And that makes them feel bad about themselves."
 
     "But I am better than them! You always have me demonstrate my kung fu because it is so good!"
 
   "It is true that your techniques are good," said the master. "But there is more to life than good technique. Cassandra is very good at forms, Freddy has strong chi and can break many bricks and Samuel is so fast that he can strike four times for every time other students can strike once. Everyone is better at something, and everyone is worse than others at something. A true warrior knows that the true glory and strength of any warrior is in his or her humility."
 
     "But what is humility?" Bonaparte asked.
 
      "It is knowing that even if you are the best at something, even the best at many things, that does not make you a better person. Each student here deserves to be treated as if they are the best. In this way, people know that you are wise and that you are on the way to truly becoming a kung fu master. You mustn't think too much of yourself, but should realize that there is still much to learn and much that you are not so good at yet. Maybe you can start by apologizing to your friends and trying to be more humble."
 
     Straight away, Bonaparte did what the master said and soon he was happily back with his friends. Now, he can often be heard to shout: "That was a great job on that staff set, Chip!" or "You do those forms so well, Cassandra, you make me want to practice harder to become good like you."
 
     As he watched all of this, Master Monkey sat on the limb of an old oak tree and smiled, knowing that Bonaparte learned his lesson in humility.
 
The End
Written by Eric Padilla
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