A long time ago, there was a guy in our class who was a good student and always got good grades. Yet, none of the teachers knew his name. He didn’t talk to others, didn’t look anyone in the eye, and didn’t answer questions even when he knew the answers. He acted like an introvert.
He never shared his notes, never explained how he solved a math problem, never shared his food, and always ate alone. One day, during a leisure period, the class was noisy with everyone making jokes. The principal, hearing the noise, walked into our class. He called out the noisy students to come to the dais and asked them to speak continuously for one minute. When it was this guy’s turn, he muttered something to the principal. He pointed to the boys at the last bench and said only they deserved punishment. From that moment, everyone thought he was full of himself and started ignoring him even more.
One day, I urgently needed some class notes, and since he lived near my home, I went to his place to ask for the book. When I reached his house, I rang the doorbell. He opened the door, welcomed me warmly, and invited me inside. It was surprising as I had never heard his voice before. He showed me his room, gave me the notebook I needed, and even explained how he solved the problem in a simple way. I was dumbstruck because I had never seen him like this before.
From that day, we became good friends. We discussed everything about school, our lives, what we wanted to become in the future, and I was amazed by how much he had changed. The boy I had seen a few months back, who seemed selfish and unwilling to take responsibility, had evolved into someone I never imagined. One day, I asked him why he had been so aloof before.
He told me something I never expected. He said, “I was afraid of all of you. I thought you would make fun of me if I talked, if you saw my notes, or if you tasted my food. I always felt I didn’t fit in. I had bad clothing, tasteless food, and wrote in cheap notebooks. My English wasn’t good, and I was scared you would make fun of me if I spoke in front of the class.”
That’s when I realized he had missed out on a lot of fun because he was afraid of what others thought of him. You never really know yourself until you speak out and become part of something. Be brave and speak your heart, no matter what.