Today, I am here to share a short story on how easily people allow others’ perspectives to get into their minds and start thinking of it repeatedly which finally might lead to the path of abhorrence. I will try to give a generic example and portray every emotion. You might find some similarities and correlate with your life.
I particularly chose this story to ask you something at the end of the story. I hope all of you will read this story to the end. Thank you in advance.
We start with a boy named John who just started tenth grade. He just got a cell phone, so he can communicate with his father since it is his father’s responsibility to pick him up after school hours. John is a good student, and never uses his phone in class. He only uses his mobile outside the school premises. After his daily mid-afternoon meeting with the Onondaga Yearbook Club at 6:00 PM, he calls his father to pick him up. However, one day was unlike the rest, and his relationship with his father was never the same.
That day, as is his daily routine, he came out of the school as usual at around 6 and tried calling his father. His father answered the call and said, “Yeah John, I will be there in ten minutes”.
John said, “Yes father, no problem.” As it was winter, it was a pitch-black night by the time he left Yearbook, and he had watched the sunset from the annealed glass panes facing the courtyard which he was now standing in front of. As the temperature dropped, John felt the chills roll down him as he grew impatient. It was so frustrating, yet he was frightened to call. After 2 hours and a growing numbness in his face, he lost his patience and started calling his father again
His father answered the call and said, “Just ten minutes, John!” and hung-up the call without another word.
Now, angry with his father, John had completely lost his patience. At the same time, a friend of John’s, Vinod began to approach him. He lived on the other side of the street, and had been watching John wander around the school’s courtyard for the past two hours. “What happened, John? You’re still here, is everything alright?”
John angrily replied, “I am still waiting for my father to pick me up!”
“Are you kidding me? You are no longer a little boy. You are old enough to get a driver’s permit, and yet you still seek help from your father to go home?”
John was not a fan of Vinod’s tone. “It’s none of your business. You live across from our school. Why do you care?”
Startled with his response, Vinod realized he was no longer welcome and decides to walk back towards home. Even though he walked confidently, acting like he did not even care, his brain was still moving at a hundred miles a second. “Why is he shouting at me? What did I do? Why did I not say anything back?” He decided to come back to John one last time.
John, with his parka on all the way, looks at Vinod and squints. Vinod looks down and starts to speak. “I am sorry, John. I should not have said that when you were already in a bad mood.”
“No need to apologize. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t shout at you like that. It’s all because of my father that I have been waiting for 2 hours,” John replied.
“Can I ask you a question?”, his friend asked..
“No problem, Vinod. Just ask me. Anyway, it cannot be worse than waiting here for two hours in this pitch-black night.”
Vinod replied, “Exactly! You know, it’s pitch black, and you are probably hungry, too. Don’t you think your father might have forgotten you, so why don’t you call him again?”
John replied, “Actually, I tried calling him and he said that he will be in ten minutes.”
Vinod said, “Oh!. Your father must drive a long way to get here, right.?”
John replied, “No, no! My father’s office is two miles away from here. It is outside of Seneca Knolls.”
“Sorry to say this, but I think your father doesn’t love you. My father would never leave me in this pitch-black night all alone. What is so important that he cannot even bother telling you the truth about how long it will take to drive here?”
After thinking deeply, John said, “My dad’s job is very important, Vinod.”
Vinod said, “Okay, then why are you waiting here when you could just walk home?”
“Vinod does have a point,” John said to himself. But John could not simply say that.“My father does not want me to take that risk. It is not safe going alone,” he told his friend.
Realizing that John was still salty, Vinod realized he was going nowhere. “Okay then, I gotta go.”
Now alone, John thought of many things. “I should have taken a risk instead of waiting for my father’s arrival–I do not think he cares about me. If he does, why not show up on time? And if he does have that important work, why leave me all alone instead of asking me to go home by myself If he is concerned about me then he would not have left me in this situation all alone?”
With all the questions arising in his mind, he started getting upset. In the meantime, John’s father had arrived, and stated that he was so sorry for being late. Before his father had a chance to explain, John angrily interrupted, “Too little too late! Shall we go home now?”
After his father agreed, they went home. They reached home at nine o’clock. and John’s mom asked, “What happened, John? Why are you home so late?”
John angrily replied, “Why not ask dad instead” and immediately left for his room.

Before continuing further, I would like to ask a few questions:
Who do you think is wrong here?
1. Vinod, who slandered John’s father?
2. John, who let Vinod’s words go to his head and alter his thoughts?
3. John’s father,who left his son for 2 hours and did not even respond to calls properly?