Characters:
Rubina, Sana (the younger sister), Ami (mom), Maryam (the youngest sister), Rubina’s friends, and Sana’s friends.
Setting:
Where: Rubina’s home, friend’s home, and school.
Plot:
Rubina was invited to a birthday party but she had to take Sana.
Genre:
Realistic Fiction
Perspective:
First-person
The story, Big Red Lollipop, written by Rukhsana Khan, talks about a girl Rubina being invited to her friends’ birthday party but she was forced to take her little sister, Sana, to the party. When the party's over, Rubina and Sana get goody bags with a big red lollipop inside. Sana ate her lollipop on the way home while Rubina saved hers for tomorrow morning. Next morning, however, Sana ate her saved lollipop even though Sana “shared” a tiny little piece of lollipop for Rubina. Rubina was so angry and tried to get Sana. Ami even praised Sana for “sharing” the tiny part of the lollipop to Rubina. Since then, Rubina hadn’t had any invitation from her friends. One day, Sana got an initiation from her friends. Ami said it was only fair if she took the youngest sister, Maryam, to the party. Now it was Sana’s turn to beg Ami and plead. But Rubina tapped on Ami’s shoulder and said not to bring Maryam to Sana’s party so Sana got to go by herself. After the party, to thank Rubina, Sana brought a green lollipop to her.
People should treat people the way they want to be treated by putting themselves into other people’s shoes in order to understand what they would want and how they would feel. Putting oneself into other people’s shoes means a person is trying to see where another person is coming from. One day, Sana got an invitation from her friends. Ami explained that since Sana went to Rubina’s friend’s party, Sana should bring Rubina and Maryam, so as to make it fair. The reason why Ami wanted Sana to take Maryam to the party is because Ami wanted Sana to put herself in Rubina’s shoes in order to understand how Rubina felt on the day when Rubina was forced to take Sana to her friend’s birthday party. This suggests that if a person could imagine himself in other people’s situation, he will be able to predict their thinking, feelings, behaviors, which could avoid the conflict or decrease the differences. Many problems can be solved if people could just try to understand the position of the other.
Empathy helps people connect to others and have an emotional understanding of others because everyone wants to be heard and understood. Empathy is the ability that a person recognizes or understands another person’s feelings and thoughts in a situation from their points of views. Rubina asked Ami to not let Sana take Maryam to the party because Sana would fool herself if she took Maryam and she would not get any more invitations if she did so. Rubina didn’t want Sana to experience the same thing she had before. The reason why Rubina said NO to Ami is because she knew how it felt before and she didn’t want Sana to suffer it. Rubina showed her empathy to Sana. Clearly, understanding others is the foundation of having empathy. People just need to look at things from others’ points of views, be there for them, or show they do care about them. People don’t have to do anything special to show their empathy. The power of empathy not only could help people promote positive relationships with others but also increase their happiness.
People sometimes learn things by thinking about the way they do things before and the experiences they had. With such learning and thinking, people are able to grow on it and show their gratitude to others who help them become better. After Sana attended the friend’s birthday party, she came home, knocked on Rubina’s door, and handed Rubina a big green lollipop. Rubina was surprised and they now became siblings and friends again with love. Previously, Sana attended Rubina's friend's birthday party and she did not know how much pain she caused Rubina because she was not in Rubina’s position. Now Sana was invited to her own friend’s party and finally realized her mistakes. Therefore, when Sana came home, she gave Rubina a big green lollipop to apologize for eating Rubina’s big red lollipop and what she did at her friend’s birthday party. She also used the green lollipop as a way to say thank you for stopping mom from forcing Maryam to come to the party as well as to show her love to Rubina. Comparing now and before toward the similar situation could help people reflect on their mistakes, make apologies from the bottom of their heart, show their gratitude, and learn from it for the future.
“Red Big Lollipop” is a touching and warm story talking about Rubina and Sana fighting over a big red lollipop and they make up with each other with a green red lollipop. From Ami, the girls’ mom, I learned that it is important to put oneself in other people’s shoes because it can help one to better understand everything, and it may shed some light on what actually happened. From Rubina, I learned that showing empathy to someone means that people try to look at things from others’ perspectives; just be there for them and how much they care about them. From Sana, I learned the importance of rethinking about what had been done before, admitting the mistake, and growing from it for the future. A child should try to appreciate, respect and grow from his other siblings. I recommend this book to students who like to fight with their siblings. After reading this story, they will begin to think of things from their siblings' points of view and appreciate it more.
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