If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are oppressing and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.
Malcolm X
Juan is a seven-year-old boy who enjoys playing alone rather than with friends. He was known for his wild imagination. From a short distance he was playing in the sandbox with his toy cars he heard a faint voice asking for help. Going to the source of the voice he noticed a tiny stone.
“Oh thank you for taking that heavy stone off me,” the tiny stone said relieved. “Some naughty boys placed me under the larger stone.”
Surprised by what he was hearing, Juan picked up the tiny stone that would not stop thanking him.
“It’s hard being a tiny stone in a large city like Helsinki,” it continued. “It’s not like in the countryside where stones are left alone. In the city, it’s different. Not a day does y when you’re pushed around. Some can even throw you in the sea.”
Source: Open Source
The stone was so grateful to Juan that he granted him a wish.
“Do you mean that I can wish anything I want?”
Juan thought for a long silent pause and then said that all he’d want was to become white. He said that if his skin color changed from dark brown to white, his schoolmates would stop ridiculing him at school and want to play with him.
In an instant, Juan’s wish was granted His skin was now white, his eyes blue and his hair blonde.
Placing the mysterious stone in his pocket, Juan ran back home, where his parents were surprised to see him ethnically changed.
“My God, Juan!” the mother said. “What has happened to you?”
“I saved this tiny stone, and it granted me a wish. for my good deed I asked it to change the color of my skin to white.”
Juan’s father, who was from Colombia and had lived many yards in Finland, was first speechless and then totally confused by what had happened to his son.
“My friends won’t bully me anymore,” Juan continued. “Imagine, I am now the same color as them.”
Days went by and Juan’s initial happiness started to wean, even if some of his school friends were happy that he was white. But some were taken aback and seemed to like Juan more when he had dark skin.
The change in ethnicity ended up causing Juan a lot of unhappiness. By erasing his old self, Juan lost a part of himself. It was like getting used to using new clothes he wasn’t used to.
Juan ended up miserable. He pleaded with the stone to take him back to his old self. It wasn’t possible because he was granted only one wish by the magic stone.
A familiar voice was calling Juan to wake up for school. She noticed her son was in tears.
“What’s wrong, my love?”
“I don’t want to be white. I want to be my old self!”
To his surprise and relief, Juan noted that he had a nightmare.
The nightmare had taught him an important lesson: No matter what anyone thinks, your background is a sense of pride.
On telling his mother about the nightmare, Juan reasoned that changing your ethnicity would be a mistake.
“Let’s face it, elephants would be miserable if they changed into ants and ants would end up missing who they were if they changed into elephants.”
Not understanding the full meaning behind Juan’s words, his mother ordered him to rush out of bed and hurry to school.