The words which can change the perception of the hearer

Here we have a few moments from the life of a mother and her son.

A high school student reached home after his Science terminal examination. Mother, as usual, asked him a lot of queries regarding the way he presented the exam and asked to show the question paper. 

The boy replied, "I gave it to my class mate X."

"Whyyyyy?" Mother screamed and started questioning him. 

She asked, "Why did you give the  question paper to that boy? Didn't he get one? Doesn't he know that you need it for the preparation of the final exam? Don't you know that I always ask the question paper when you come home?" etc. etc.

The boy replied indifferently,  "He kept on asking for the question paper as he lost his own. I tried to make him understand that my mother would ask the question paper. But he was requesting me continuously and I just gave.That's all... But the exam was easy and I wrote it well."

The answer made the mother furious. She started to hit the roof, blaming her son for not taking things seriously and for not showing responsibility towards his studies. 

The boy remained silent even though he was irritated. His silence was assumed as arrogance by the mother and she was not ready to leave. She asked him again, "Aren't you telling a lie? You might have not written the exam properly and might have left the question paper somewhere  in order to escape from me. Isn't it? Why does that boy disturb others like this? Doesn't he have any common sense?"

The son burst out impatiently. "It's not like that mamma, he does not disturb anyone. Instead, he is always disturbed and teased by others. He does not have any friends because he is slow in thinking and below average in studies. He does not grasp things fast or answer any questions. So most of the students make fun of him. He is always teased and ridiculed as he is fat and dark. So he does not mingle with students much. Only a few students talk to him kindly. He comes to me if he needs something because he trusts me. I did not want to break that trust. That's why I did not object much when he requested continuously." 

Mother was too stunned to speak for a few seconds ... "Is this the boy whom I blame for not being aware of others' pain!" Mother felt regret about her wrong perception. 

She said, "I am sorry that I shouted at you my dear. I understand and appreciate your feelings. Now I am sure that you are in the right track!"

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