Children

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Once upon a time, there lived a boy named Jonathan. Jonathan loved to ride his brand new shiny bicycle, but oh how he hated the training wheels on it. Whenever he rode his bike down his street, the older boys made fun of him. He was only six years old, his dad would tell him. But Jonathan knew those big guys wouldn't buy that.

So one day, Jonathan went into his dad's workshop out back and got out the hammer, the twisty thing that his dad used to take nails out of the wall, and a stool. Sitting on the stool, he set to work knocking those training wheels off his little red bike. Finally, he wiped away the sweat with his yellow t-shirt and smiled at his handiwork.

He gave himself an approving nod; he thought it looked pretty darn good. After eating some lunch, Jonathan took his bike out to his driveway. Before the big kids came home, he had to test it out. With both hands grabbing the two rubber wrapped handle bars, Jonathan crunched his eyebrows together and thought of the big guys. Their voices shouted at him in his head and told him he was a baby because he still had training wheels. It made Jonathan feel like when he woke up from a nightmare; sweaty and shaky. He wanted to run into his house and jump under his covers. The sun was feeling pretty warm on his neck. Why did the air feel so soupy?

Jonathan shook himself back into focus. It was now or never. With a surge of courage, focusing his eyes on the end of the driveway, he straddled the bike and started pushing the peddles. Slowly, the wheels began to turn and a smile spread across his face.

He was riding a two-wheeler!

It went faster and faster and faster and faster! But Jonathan's excitement quickly turned to fear; his smile into a scream.

“I can't stooooppppp!!"

He shouted as he barreled down the driveway off onto the sidewalk, bobbling over the bumbs of the pavement and SMACK face down into the grass.

He groaned, squinting his eyes from the stinging on his elbow and knees. His bike was ruined and he was sure that Mommy and Daddy would not be happy. W

Oh no, what was worst of all was when he looked over and saw to his horror the big boys standing and laughing on the other side of the street. They called him names and pointed. As if that wasn't bad enough, Jonathan turned to the sound of his moms voice coming to save him! He tried to get up before she could reach him, before these guys really thought he was a baby, but everything hurt too bad.

Mommy picked a shameful Jonathan up and carried him into the house where she cleaned his cuts and bandaged his wounds.

She asked him, "Jonathan, what happened?" He told her all about the big guys and how he knocked off his training wheels with his dad's tools so that they couldn't make fun of him anymore, so that he could show them he was big and brave like them.

Jonathan's mom shook her head and sat her son in her lap. "Strength and bravery don't come from what you can do, Jonathan. You're brave and strong when you can be who you were meant to be even when others make fun of you."

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