like Penny. Penny was the fastest runner at school and also the fastest swimmer. Anything that any-
one could do, sports-wise, Penny seemed to be able to do better. Sometimes Jill thought it wasn’t fair
that Penny could do so many things so well. Compared to Penny, Jill thought of herself as a “fumble
foot” and, after a while, she just gave up trying to get on the sports teams.
Jill didn’t even feel special at having lots of friends. Kathy was the one in the class who seemed
to do that much better than anyone else... and Jill wished she could be more like Kathy. Kathy was
the clown, she was a lot of fun, she was always laughing and joking and telling stories. Everyone
wanted to be her friend. She had more kids for sleepovers than anyone else in the class. Mind you,
Jill was not without friends; she had several close friends. It was just that she didn’t get invited to every
sleepover like Kathy did. She didn’t get invited to everybirthday party. So when some kids were asked,
and she was not, she felt decidedly unspecial.
As it happened, one afternoon when they were about to leave school Jill walked passed Emma,
who was desperately pulling all the contents out of her bag, spreading them out on the bench, search-
ing and searching. “What’s the matter?” asked Jill. “I lost my math homework sheet,” said Emma, “and
it’s due in tomorrow. I don’t know what to do.” Jill said, “Mine is at home. I haven’t done it; I was find-
ing it difficult. If you want you can come to my home and we can do it together.” Emma went to Jill’s
house and together they worked on the math assignment. Emma explained to Jill some of the math
concepts that Jill had never understood. When they had completed their homework and Emma was
about to go, she said to Jill, “Thank you. Without you, I wouldn’t have got it done and might have
failed.” Jill felt just a tiny, sneaky feeling of being special for helping someone she admired like Emma.
Emma turned to go home but then paused a minute, and said to Jill, “You know, it’s hard always
being at the top of the class, your parents and teachers expect so much of you. I often wish I was like
you and didn’t have all these pressures.”
Long before the school’s track-and-field day arrived, Jill had given up trying to compete, but she
offered to help out and was assigned the task of ensuring that everyone got from the locker room to
the start of the races on time. As she was doing this, Penny, the school’s fastest runner, called out, “Oh
no!” Jill asked, “What’s wrong?” Penny replied, “I left my running shoes back in the classroom but
I need to change and I don’t have time to get them before the start of the race.” “Then I will,” said
Jill, and raced back to the classroom faster than she had ever run in her life. She found Penny’s shoes
and brought them back to the locker room in double-quick time. Penny grabbed them in a hurry
and flew out to start her race. When she came back with her winning ribbon, she said, “Thank you,
Jill. I wouldn’t have been able to even start the race without you. You must have run to get my shoes
like a true champion.”
As she packed her clothes back in her bag, she turned to Jill and said, “You know, everyone ex-
pects me to always win the races. There are many times that I wish I was like you.”
A day or two later Jill came across Kathy crying in the girls’ restroom by herself. “What’s the
matter?” asked Jill. “Everyone always expects me to be funny,” said Kathy. “They expect me to be
happy and jovial all the time but there are times, like everyone, when I feel sad or just simply don’t
want to be funny. The other kids don’t seem to understand. If I’m not what they expect it seems I’m
not their friend any more.” Jill sat and listened while Kathy talked about her feelings and how she felt
the pressure to live up to the expectations of others.
When the tears had subsided, she said, “You know, Jill, there are many times when I wish I was
just like you.”
CARING FOR YOUCaring for Yourself 71