Moral Stories-- Honor and Help Your Parents<5>
The Way to Happiness is a common sense guide to better living which has been distributed to more than 100 million people in over 100 languages. It describes 21 principles to a better quality of life.
Principle number 5 is "Honor and Help Your Parents."
Now read the short story about this important principle.
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Honor and Help Your Parents
Emily is a teenager and lives with her parents. She and her best friend, Kim, find out that their favorite band will give a concert in their town on Friday night. They really want to go, but they do not think their parents will let them.
Emily always asks her parents about the things that she wants to do, and they listen to what she has to say, so she decides to do the same thing this time. She explains that she wants to go to the concert with Kim, but her parents think that she is too young to go without an adult.
Emily tells Kim that she cannot go to the concert, but her friend's answer is a real surprise to Emily. Kim tells her that she should just lie to her parents. "I asked my mom for permission to go and study with friends on Friday. But I will really go to the concert! She does not need to know," Kim says.
Emily does not know what to say. She is always very honest with her parents, and they are fair in their decisions. Emily has never felt comfortable lying, and her parents always tell her that it is wrong.
"I really do not want to be dishonest with my parents," Emily tells her friend.
"Oh, stop acting like a little kid! Everyone lies," Kim replies.
But Emily is not so sure. She thinks that honesty is very important.
on Thursday, Kim invites Emily over to her house to watch a movie after school. When they get there, Kim and her mother get into a fight. Emily realizes that Kim lies to her mother all the time, and her mother does not trust her. Emily thinks this is terrible. She sits uncomfortably on the couch as Kim and her mother fight most of the afternoon.
As she sits there, Emily remembers that Kim always tells her how terrible her relationship with her mother is. Kim thinks her mother does not understand her, but Emily thinks maybe Kim's mother is just tired of Kim being dishonest with her.
As she walks home, Emily decides she will not lie to her parents about the concert. There will be lots of concerts in the future, but these are the only parents she will ever have. She knows it is better to honor them and help them so that they can have a good relationship. Because her parents trust her, they let her do most of the things that she wants to do, and she really prefers it that way.
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