STORY 13
RECOGNIZING YOUR ABILITIESTherapeutic Characteristics
Problems Addressed
■ Feeling unimportant
■ Being one of the crowd
■ Reacting with anger
■ Wanting attention (even if negative)Resources Developed
■ Wondering how to change
■ Wanting to be nice
■ Learning to use your abilities
■ Doing what you can do, well
■ Attempting something new when all else fails
■ Discriminating when behaviors are helpful and when notOutcomes Offered
■ Positive self-evaluation
■ Recognition of abilities
■ Discrimination
■ Contributing to others’ well-being
Once upon a time there was an ant who lived on a farm. Would you like us to give the ant a
name? What shall we call him or her? Ali? Ali the Ant? Fine.
Ali the Ant had a problem. You see, Ali didn’t feel like a very important ant. Sometimes when
you have lots of brothers and sisters—like, I guess, an ant does—there can’t be much time for a mom
or dad to give that special time a little ant may want. Besides, there are millions and millions of ants—
more of them than us people, I am told. Ali felt like just one of a big crowd... and not a particularly
important one. He was also small—so small that lots of other creatures didn’t even notice him—well,
not unless he bit them. They sure noticed him then. They would yell at him, swat at him, be angry
with him, but that really wasn’t the way he wanted others to notice him. He wanted to be nice to
others. He wanted to do something special, but how could he when he felt so tiny and unimportant?
He wondered what he could do.
One day Ali the Ant was going about his business, unnoticed in the crowd, when he heard some
loud noises coming from the vegetable garden. You see, the man and woman who lived on the farm
that Ali called home liked to eat nice fresh vegetables, so they grew their own. Their garden was their
pride. They had fenced it off to keep the farm animals out, but on this particular day a big billy goat
(Shall we give him a name, too? What about Billy? Is that okay?) had broken through the fence and
started to gobble up their prized vegetables.
The farmers did everything that they could to chase the goat out. They pushed and they pulled.
66 Healing Stories, Teaching Stories