A Sage Listener story
Sage Listener Finds Her Voice
Sage Listener was the best listener in the whole school. When Crimson was frustrated, Sage listened. When Amber was overexcited, Sage listened. When Gold was worried, Sage listened.
But one day, Sage felt sad, and nobody seemed to notice. Her best friend was moving to a new town, and she didn't know how to say it out loud.
At lunch, everyone talked about the weekend. Sage stayed quiet and poked at her sandwich.
Coral Helper noticed. "Sage, you've been quiet all day. You always listen to us. Do you want us to listen to you?"
Sage's eyes filled up. She wasn't sure she could find the words. "My friend is moving away," she said finally, in a very small voice. "And I'll miss her so much."
Nobody laughed. Nobody changed the subject. Amber scooted closer. Crimson said, "That's really hard." Emerald suggested they could make a memory book for the friend, with a page from everyone.
Sage felt lighter. Telling her friends didn't make the sad go away, but it made it smaller, like sharing a heavy bag.
That weekend they made the memory book together, full of drawings and jokes and an envelope of stamps so the friend could write back.
"Thank you for listening," Sage told them. "I'm going to try to talk about my feelings more." "Good," said Coral, "because we like listening to you too."
The lesson: Your feelings matter just as much as everyone else's.
Talk about it
- What was Sage Listener really good at?
- What did Sage Listener learn?
- Have you ever felt like that? What helped?