ALI was often teased by his classmates for not having the expensive gadgets that they had. One day, one of his friends brought a new camera to school and was showing it off to everyone. Ali became upset seeing this.

When he went back home after school, his parents showed him a set of ‘building blocks’ they had brought for him. Ali became so furious seeing an ordinary educational toy that he started to yell and throw tantrums. He felt upset that his parents never bought any expensive gadget for him.

He then went to his room and started crying and asking God why he never got what he wanted. After some time, Ali fell asleep and saw a dream.

He saw himself in an untidy old house which had just one room and no furniture. His clothes were all shabby and the house had no facilities — it was almost empty. The room in which he was present was stinking. Ali then walked out of this house and saw another house.

This house was big and magnificent. There was a small lovely garden too that he could see from the main gate of the house. He was shocked to realise that this nice house was his own!

He tried to enter the house but was stopped by a security guard. Ali tried to convince him that he lived in this house but the guard refused to let him enter. The guard said the dirty house on the other side was his. Ali was scared and confused. Then the whole scene changed and he woke up to find himself in his room, lying on his bed.

He realised it was all a dream — a dream that made him think how lucky he was, and unthankful too! Ali quickly got up and went to his parents, but he was just too ashamed to say anything and stood with his head bowed. His parents realised Ali was remorseful at his behaviour.

His mother hugged him and said, “Beta, the reason we never brought those cameras, phones and other expensive devices for you is because we didn’t want to spoil you like those boys in your school.

“If you look around you will realise that there are so many people in the world who don’t even have enough to eat each day, let alone luxuries like toys. Moreover, having costly things does not make a person more worthy than those who don’t own expensive things.

“It is your character and behaviour that determine your worth as a human being. Anyone with enough money can buy an expensive gadget but no one can buy a good personality trait, or make others like you with money.”

Ali’s eyes were filled with tears. He was ashamed of his ungrateful behaviour. He apologised to his mother and to God as well and decided to remain happy with whatever God had blessed him with.