There was once a little girl named Emma. She had a big sister, Sophie, who was kind to everyone. Emma always pretended to be a nice girl when she was around her mom. In reality, Emma was a mean girl at her school. She made fun of other children and lied whenever the teachers found out. This caused her to have a hard time making friends, which is a difficult thing for a 9-year-old to deal with. 

    As the days went on, Emma became more cruel and still never treated her classmates with kindness. Her behavior became such a big problem that many other little girls in her class began to cry! 

    One day, everything changed. Emma and Sophie's mother, Mrs. Clark, got a phone call from the school principal! He explained that Emma's behavior had gotten out of hand, and that she constantly bullies others and lies. Mrs. Clark was shocked-- there was no way that Emma could do this! But, enough was enough.

I will make sure to talk to her about this when she is home, Principal!

PRINCIPAL

    Emma cried. She didn't want her mom to be disappointed in her! What was she going to do? She had no choice but to go home and face the consequences of her actions. She saw Sophie during lunch and begged her for help. 

    "Please, Sophie, please! Mom is going to be so mad," cried Emma, through sniffles and tears.

    "Emma, you have to learn! I'm going to tell Mom exactly what's been going on. Besides, Principal Lee already called her. There's no point in lying," argued Sophie. She was upset, but part of her also felt relief because she knew that her sister was going to learn a lesson of a lifetime.

    Emma cried, and she cried, and she cried some more. Sophie started to feel bad-- she was her sister, after all. Sophie took a deep breath and started to talk to Emma again.

    "Emma, I'm sorry that I got upset. I didn't mean to be that mean to you! The truth is, I also wasn't very kind to my classmates when I was little. But then I started to read about Confucianism, Buddhism, and Islam!" she exclaimed, once she was able to calm down completely.

    Emma was confused. "What's that? I never heard of those words!" she asked.

    "They are religions, Emma. All over the world, people practice different religions, which means that some of your friends may believe in a different religion than your other friends." 

    "What are you trying to say?" mumbled Emma.

    "I'm saying that I can teach you what I learned about these religions, and hopefully, they can help you in your everyday life!"

    Emma smiled. "Thank you, Sophie. Tell me everything, I want to be a better person and classmate! Let's go to the park after school and you can teach me."

    After school, Sophie explained three things. She talked about Buddhism and right speech, Confucianism and Ren, and finally, Islam and one of its greatest sins: Lying.

    "You can't say hurtful things to your classmates, or wish to say bad things to them. Even if you are just using your words, you should never hurt anyone in any way," said Sophie ("The Eightfold Path | Pursuit of Happiness").