Once there was a boy named Oliver. He lived in a town named Farenland. When Oliver was young, he had lost his hearing in an accident and became permanently deaf. His town was a small one and word spread fast that Oliver had lost his hearing. Due to his deafness, Oliver faced a lot of challenges.It was very tough for him to even do simple tasks like watching the television or going for a walk on the road. He didn't have many friends either and would generally keep to himself. Oliver’s family wanted Oliver to be like every other child his age so that he would not find himself any different than them- they wanted him to go out and play or ride a cycle but Oliver was not interested in these things. He would just like to sit at home and read books. As Oliver grew older, he started learning sign language. This made it easier for him to communicate with people and he could finally start doing tasks on his own- such as paying the bill to the cashier at the store, or even ordering for himself at restaurants. He would simply point at what he wanted on the menu. Oliver slowly started realizing that despite being deaf, there were a lot of things he could do. This made him more confident and he started going out more often. Once Oliver went to the park. He took a book with him,sat on a bench and started reading. As he was reading, he saw a little girl walking with her mother. Her mother was signing at the girl,and the little girl was trying to sign back. Curious to know more, Oliver went up to the little girl and tried to ask her what her name was by signing it with his fingers. He saw that this made the girl happy and she looked at her mother filled with happiness. The mother signed at Oliver and told him that the little girl was deaf and was just learning sign language. It was the first time she saw someone use it outside her house and that made her very happy. Oliver was touched by this and proceeded to sign to the girl’s mother that he was deaf too. This made the mother smile and she signed to Oliver to have a good day and then continued walking. This small incident made Oliver happy. It made him feel like he was not alone and there was so much love in the world. Soon Oliver was older and went out of his town for further studies. He made many new friends and was finally happy. Oliver wanted to learn a lot more about hearing and how it felt so he also started playing the guitar. He could not hear himself play but everyone told him that he was extremely talented and would play the guitar really well. He would feel the guitar’s strings by their vibrations and played solely based on that. He would like to shut his eyes and play as that made it much easier for him to feel the vibrations. Oliver had transformed into a new person, a happy and content person. He soon decided that it had been long since he visited his family and wanted to go to his hometown for the winter break. Oliver had informed his family that he would be coming and they were overjoyed. As soon as Oliver reached his hometown, he stopped at the convenience store to pick up a few items. As soon as he was about to enter, he saw a board with an advertisement playing on it. It was nothing unusual as this board always had something playing on it. However, when he saw it closely, he realised that he understood everything the advertisement was saying!. Before he used to only see the ad and try to figure out what it was by seeing the product. But the reason he understood this advertisement was because it was made in sign language. This made Oliver so happy. He went in and quickly recognized everyone working there. They were the same people working when Oliver left town. He immediately gave them a warm smile and they understood why. Oliver picked up the items and as soon as he was about to pay, the cashier told him the amount in sign language instead of just handing him the bill like usual.Oliver was confused as to how everyone around him knew sign language but this made him nothing but proud. Proud of his town and proud that they were so understanding. From that day forward almost everyone in the town of Farenland knew sign language. They decided to teach it in schools too. It was a town filled with good people. Everyone wanted to help one another there. They never wanted anyone to feel less important because of a deformity in them. Many people came to visit this town after they heard of this news. They too wanted to see for themselves how empathetic and understanding this town was.
We learn from this story that just like the people of the town, we too should be empathetic and sensitive to people around us. Instead of dismissing them, we should try and understand people. We should be patient and gentle with them. We shouldn't let anything get in the way of our happiness. It’s important to spread love and positivity and even the smallest acts of kindness could mean a lot to someone. Being deaf was not a sign of weakness for Oliver, but a sign of strength.
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