(Exposition) Once upon a time, in a small town out in the middle of nowhere, there was a little boy named Benny. Benny was not a very nice kid, who always got into trouble and was mean to other people. Because of this, people did not like Benny very much.

(Conflict introduced) After school one day, Benny was stopped by his teacher. "You need to work on your attitude, young man. If you don't get your act together, I'm going to need to hold you back a grade," the teacher warned him. Benny silently nodded, pretending to not care, but got worried about needing to repeat a grade.

(Rising Action) Benny decided to visit the wise old man for advice. "What can I do for you?" the old man asked.

Benny didn't want to ask anyone for help, but he had no choice. "I'm going to be held back in school unless I do better. What do I do?"

"Well, I can give you some places to go for advice. Here, take this," the old man said as he was given a paper with three names on it.

"I hope that boy listens to their advice," the old man silently told himself as Benny walked out the door.

Once Benny walked outside, he saw a little bug on the ground. He stepped on hit, and after crushing the bug by stepping on it he continued walking. Looking at the paper given by the old man, he saw that the first place was down the road.

Benny found who he was looking for outside of his house. He seemed to be looking at nature, as he stared at all of the trees and the animals flying by.

"The name's Paul, what can I do for you?" The man asked without looking at Benny.

"I was told that you can help me. I'm not doing well in school," Benny explained.

"Well, maybe that's because you need to be nicer to everything around you."

Benny thought that Paul was crazy, but kept listening.

"Inside everything, like these trees and each of us, are spirits. These spirits can help you if you are nice to them," Paul explained ("Animism").

"I walked all the way here for this? Thanks for nothing," Benny angry exclaimed as he stormed away. Paul watched him silently.

Benny was upset, but hoped the next person had some more helpful advice. He looked up at the sky and saw clouds. "I hope it doesn't rain," he thought out loud. Benny saw another bug, but thought that trying out Paul's advice wouldn't hurt. He continued walking without stepping on the bug.

Benny saw the clouds clearing up and was shocked. Thinking that Paul might have been right, he was more hopeful about the next advice he would get.

The man introduced himself as John. "I know you want to improve yourself, so I will teach you a little bit about the Four Noble Truths. They say that there is suffering from everything in life (Mark). This suffering can come from many things, but one way is from other people. If you are nice to people, you can make less suffering, and then both of you can be a little happer," John explained to Benny (Lopez).