The Boy Who Said No

Once there was a boy who mostly said ‘no.’

He'd said ‘yes’ before, but then all sorts of things happened that he wasn’t quite ready for.

After the word ‘no,’ nothing happened. And for him, nothing was good.

‘No’ became his good friend.

‘No’ protected him from scratchy things,

Tight things,

Noisy things,

Potentially mean and scary things,

Mushy things,

Clanky things,

Annoying things,

Smelly things,

Difficult things,

Fast things…

What happened after ‘no’ was still, reliable and stress-free.

Life with ‘no’ was good.

Until it wasn’t.

After many, many ‘no’s his life began to feel very small.

All that was left was his chair and his screen and his same three meals a day.

The boy became bored, then sad, and rather angry.

And though he kept it to himself, he kind of missed the things that happened after ‘yes.’

One day his mama walked by and the boy muttered, “...yes.”

“Yes?”

His mother did her best to hide her excitement.

“I’d like to say ‘yes’ to something,” he said. “But I need to know everything that will happen after.”

“But nobody knows for certain what might happen. That’s what makes yesses interesting. Each yes makes your world bigger in an unexpected way! But I will be here. To make sure you’re safe. And you can let me know if you’d like to say ‘no’, or ‘yes’ to something else.”

“I guess it’s like an adventure.”

“It is! Yesses can lead to all sorts of opportunities!”

So the boy got dressed and he let the yesses lead the way.

He said yes to walking (which didn’t last as long as he feared).

Yes to the beach (which wasn’t unbearably hot).

Yes to swimming (which felt nice, not freezing).

Yes when a new friend asked him to play (and she was kind and even fun).

Yes to a new kind of ice cream (which became his new favorite).

Yes to swinging at the park (and he didn’t get hurt).

And Yes to a hug goodbye (which filled his heart with love).

He still kept his old friend ‘no’ nearby because he knew there would be times when ‘no’ was necessary.

But he began to have a special friendship with ‘yes.’

And he was glad.

Because as his life began to grow, he realized how lucky he was to be alive in it.

The end.

—JLK