The Stuttering Kid

Inspired by Jay`s (Ed O'Neill) "story-telling" (from "TV Show: Modern Family")

[from "Modern Family", a story told by Jay]

There was a boy in my neighborhood that stuttered. 

He was really self-conscious about it. What kid wouldn't be? At school, when the teacher would ask him a question, he tried so hard to get the words out, but it just wouldn't come. The rest of kids stared at him, which only made the stuttering worse. They`d whisper behind his back and laugh. Finally got to the point where the teacher called on him to answer the question, even if he knew the answer, he'd just say, "I don`t know." Then the teacher would shake his head and say, "Next time study harder!".

[Story continues from here , written by Iro Tzu "Satoshi"]

So when the bell rang, he ran out of his classroom. He would barely hold back his tears, when he bumped on another kid from his neighborhood. That kid had his face full of ice cream. Stuttering kid would try to bypass him , holding his hand up to cover his face. "Hey, man. What's wrong? Where`are you  going?". Ice-cream kid asked with a big smile.

"i`m g-g-going to kill my s-s-elf".  Stuttering kid replied, and kept running towards the woods. Finally the ice-cream kid caught up with him, sat him down on a cold stone. He kept his big smile , he listened patiently  about his pain. After a moment of silence, the ice-cream kid said to him: "Listen. F**k them. F**k all of this. Life`s beautiful. There` s so much more to being alive than getting stuck in a bad spot. Find a life worth living and go for it!"

First week of a summer break, Stuttering kid pulled himself together. I mean, he did the best he could. Like every morning, he checked local newspapers.  That's when his eyes peeled, taste got numb, he went deaf for a  while. Picture of ice-cream kid with a big smile stared right at him, next to it said: "We regret to inform you about the early demise of our son due to cancer he suffered in the last couple of years". Stuttering kid crashed on his bedroom floor,  curled up into himself then he began to sob. It went on for a long time. He felt void inside of him swallowing him piece by piece. Shortly after he felt entirely digested, nothing left of him to continue to feel pain. Suddenly, he would stand up. He dialed in a number. It was a phone contact for a job offer. So he scheduled his interview for that afternoon, he wanted to make a buck that summer selling cars.

He got to place of work. You know how it is... the first day is the worst day. Boss called for him into his office, he would politely tell him to sit down. Awkward silence ensued, Boss looked him in the eye and said: "Listen... I have worked for this company for a little more than 25 years. There has either been a mix up, or you're part of some fraud. Son, you broke a record for selling cars within a week on your first day." The Boss leaned back into his very much comfortable leather chair, he smiled at the kid as wide as he could. There was pride in his eyes, he was mesmerized by this young salesman.

Stuttering kid told him: "There's only one life to live, and I plan to live it the best I can every single day. And when I sold those cars, sir, I felt satisfied with myself. And being satisfied with myself is life worth living..."

Reviews

[ProphetsMother]

Wow I love this it's inspirational in that we can conquer that which seems to since us out negativity against others.. and that sometimes it just takes one kind person to bring us up from a place of doubt and despair. The stuttering child was probably never told that stuttering is a sign of high intelligence. So often people who are highly gifted are misunderstood and he was finally able to show his abilities as he got older. Thank you for sharing.