Yousuf was sitting in his room, confused and frustrated. His mother had just sent him to his room and told him to reflect on his behaviour.

What exactly did he do wrong? As he was still thinking, he heard a knock and then the door being opened. His mother came in and sat down next to him.

“Alright Yousuf, tell me, do you know what you did wrong?”

Yousuf became more puzzled as he said, “That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to do. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to think of anything that I may have done wrong.”

His mother sighed. “Now, now, Yousuf. Do you not remember how you shouted at your best friend, your teacher and your younger sister?”

“No that’s not what happened. You must have seen it wrong ....” Yousuf answered quietly.

“Oh really? Because it looked like you were angry at something and were taking it out on someone else.”

Yousuf looked embarrassed at what his mother told him. Truth be told, he had really been looking forward to his school trip to the zoo, but it was cancelled due to the weather. He remembered being very upset and angry and had taken it out on the people who didn’t deserve it.

He told everything to his mother who smiled and said, “We are humans and it’s natural to feel different emotions in a situation. But what isn’t right is taking it out on others, especially anger.”

Yousuf sighed and realised that he really misbehaved so he felt really bad. “What do I do now? They probably hate me for the way I treated them.”

“Apology is the first step. They care for you and they will forgive you,” his mother explained.

Yousuf looked out of the window at the sky. He promised himself that he would make it up to the three people he took his anger out on.

Published in Dawn, Young World, October 28th, 2023