The mother said to her son Ziyad, “Come on, Ziyad, we will be late for the weekly football training.” Ziyad replied to her, “Good, Mother. I am ready. Let’s go.” On the way, Ziyad was contemplating the street leading to the field where he trained. This was the first time he noticed those tents lined up on both sides of the road, and those children playing with balls in the narrow streets among the tents, and those children playing with balls in the narrow streets surrounding the tents.
He asked his mother and said, “Mother, what are those tents near the field, and who are those children?” The mother replied, “These are the tents of people who lost their homes, and those people who were forced to leave their land, homeland, and homes because of a disaster or war. They do not have much to live on, and these are the children who live in those tents.” Ziyad felt a moment of pity and distress for their condition, but he returned and shouted with joy after the car stopped and they reached the field. Ziyad said, “Finally, we reached the field. I have been longing all week to play ball with my friends.” The mother said, “Good. I will visit you in an hour when training ends.”
Ziyad played football with his friends. Suddenly, while Ziyad’s team was busy training and playing, the sky became covered with black clouds, and it began to rain. At that point, the captain announced the need to end training and the necessity of returning home. Ziyad felt extreme cold. He sat shivering from the cold, his teeth chattering from the cold under a tree, waiting for his mother’s return. While he was sad because training had ended, a small boy of Ziyad’s age appeared and said to him, “Here, this woolen shawl will make you feel warm until your mother returns.” Ziyad put on the shawl and asked him who he was and why he was giving his shawl to someone he did not know.
The boy answered, saying, “I live in those tents, and I watch you every week during your training. While I was following you, I noticed you sitting here and feeling cold. My father used to always say before the war took him away from us: Change what you can accept, and accept what you cannot change, and learn to distinguish the difference between the two.” The boy did not say more than what he had said and went on his way. With the arrival of Ziyad’s mother, Ziyad spent the rest of the next week thinking about what the tent boy had said to him.
The following week, when he went to training, he asked his father to take him this time and told him his secret plan, which needed his father’s help to execute. He took with him all the clothes he no longer wore, and with his allowance, he bought some delicious foods and supplies to repair the tents that the rains had damaged. While he was busy repairing the tents with his father’s help, the same boy came and asked him, “What are you doing here?” Ziyad did not hesitate to answer with a wide smile and a wink, “I am changing what I cannot accept.” The two stood laughing happily under the rain.