On Being Bad

"Am I bad?", one boy asked me. "Well, how do you define 'bad'?", I asked him in return. "Well, my classmates said I'm bad. I think I'm bad," he concluded with downcast look and hanging shoulders. "Hmmm..well, if committing mistakes is what you mean by the word bad, then you're not one. It is really our nature to commit mistakes. It doesn't mean that if you commit mistakes, you can be labeled 'bad' already. God is there. That's why He's there to let us stand again, let us rise again from our mistakes. You are not bad. You just committed a mistake." I looked at him. His eyes fixed on mine. He smiled, not because he got rid of the guilt. It is because he realized something. "Now, what do we do when we do something wrong to someone?", I asked him in conclusion. "Apologize," he replied. Then, he ran away, guilt-free, happy, composed and at peace. I was puzzled by that very moment. Children are really sensitive. I marveled at that sensitivity. I examined myself. Am I bad? From that moment, my perspective changed. I know that little boy made me substantiate something. There's a message. I just smiled. I may have fallen, but God did not call me "bad".