(Exposition)

Richard is a boy in the 2nd grade, he struggled in school having never studied. Today was the day that they got a big test back. Getting it back from Mr. Lien, he was sad looking at the score. 

Their class was rather small, as they lived in a small town, but they still had a lot of desks so it looked funny to Richard. In total, it was four students in their classroom. Their teacher was Mr. Lien.

(Conflict Introduced)

As soon as they got the tests back, the boy sitting behind him, Jimmy, took the paper from off of his desk.

"Hey look, everyone!" Jimmy said loudly.

"Richard got a D on the test!" He continued, laughing.

Richard got mad, so he shoved Jimmy.

"Both of you, to the principal's office!" Yelled Mr. Lien.

Angry at each other, they walked to the principal's office.

D+

(Rising Action)

The two walked into Mr. Graham's office. 

"So, what seems to be the problem here?" He asked calmly.

"He shoved me!" Yelled Jimmy.

"He took my paper and showed everyone!"  Richard yelled back. 

"In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you." Mr. Graham said calmly. 

"What does that mean?" Jimmy and Richard asked at the same time.

"It's the golden rule, specifically in Christianity." Said Mr. Graham.

"What it means is that you shouldn't do things that you don't want other people to do to you" ("Golden Rule").

"But he shoved me!" Jimmy continued to yell.

"Well, how would you like it if somebody grabbed your paper and showed everyone after you got a bad score?" Mr. Graham asked.

Jimmy frowned, understanding what Mr. Graham meant. It was true, Jimmy and his family were Christian, his father once told him that "Jesus teaches us to show respect to others if we want that same respect back" (Johnson). 

On their way back to the classroom, Richard was still mad, so when he shut the door behind him in Jimmy's face.

"Why did you do that? Go open the door for him." He asked Richard to do it.

Doing so, Richard almost trips on his shoelace that he swore he could've tied not too long ago. He opened the door and apologized to Jimmy.

"I thought I tied my shoes," Richard said confused.

"Well, that's just Karma." 

"What's Karma?" Asked Richard.

"Well you see, I'm a Buddhist. Meaning I believe in Buddhism. In Buddhism, we believe in the idea of Karma. Karma is the effect of your actions. If you intend to do bad things, bad things will happen to you" (Goldstein).  

"So does Jimmy have bad Karma for taking my test and showing it to everyone?" Richard asked, Jimmy seemed mad but he didn't say anything.

"Possibly. It may play out very soon, maybe in the next lifetime or the one after that" (Bloom).

"However! You should always treat others with respect, the Buddha teaches that to try to have a better future, you should always try to be better in the present" ("What is Karma?")

Hours passed and it was time for recess. Somehow a dog snuck onto the playground. Trying to pet the dog, Richard got bit. Angry, he went to smack the dog. He felt his arm get held back. Looking to see who it was, it was Reggie. 

"Why did you just try to hit that dog?" Reggie asked, confused and slightly upset.

"Well, it bit me! It's just Karma if I hit it back. You know the Golden Rule right? Treat people how you want to be treated," Richard responded. 

"In my culture, we treat animals respectfully," Reggie said.

"What is your culture?" Richard asked curiously. 

  "Well, my people are the first Australians, usually called Aboriginal Australians. However, some of us don't like to use that term, some use indigenous, or black to describe us."

"Why shouldn't I show the dog the same type of treatment it showed me?" Richard asked.

"Well, because this dog doesn't know much better, my people in specific have dogs as their totem," Reggie explained.