"Why are you bald?" Ron, the class bully smirked as he pointed at his classmate, Mila. "Baldy, baldy," he teased, making her lower her head in shame. "You are bringing shame to the class with your looks." The other classmates tried to stop him, but he was relentless in his put-downs. Just then, his form teacher, Miss Ko appeared at the doorway. "Ron Ho Cheuk-hang, what do you think you're doing?" she asked. "That's very mean of you. Apologize at once." However, Ron remained defiant.
"I'm just putting her in her place, Miss Ko," he tried to argue. "There's no way I'm going to apologize."
"That's enough," Miss Ko shouted. "I'm going to call your father." Ron, however, remained nonchalant. "Whatever," he said.
At home, Ron was met by his father Carl, who wanted to have a serious conversation with him. "I got a call from your form teacher," he began. "She said that you've been bullying your classmate Mila by calling her names. What do you have to say about this?"
"Come on, Dad. It's true. She's ugly. I'm just putting her in her place," Ron shrugged, laughing. Carl had enough of his son's behaviour. He banged his hand onto the table.
"That's enough. Get in the car, now," Carl ordered. Ron had never seen his father so livid before and quietly complied. "Where are we going, Dad?" Ron asked nervously as the car stopped in front of a barber shop. Carl ignored Ron's question and told a barber, "Shave his head." This caused Ron's eyes to widen in shock.
"No, you can't do this," he protested. "Don't mind him," Carl told the barber. "Just shave his head." The barber shaved Ron's head.
"Why are you doing this, Dad? You're embarrassing me, I hate you," Ron yelled, crying. Carl crouched down to his son's level and said, "Now you'll understand. Your hair will grow back, Ron, but Mila's won't. She's undergoing treatment for cancer. You mocked her for something she can't control. You need to feel her pain to learn compassion." Carl then went on to share his experience as a former cancer patient, and how he eventually recovered with encouragement from loved ones and continued treatment.
The next day, Ron approached Mila in school. "I'm sorry," he began. "I didn't know what you were going through." "It's OK," Mila smiled shyly. Ron smiled back. From then on, Ron and Mila became friends. With encouragement from friends and loved ones, as well as continued treatment, Mila eventually recovered from cancer. As for Ron, he learnt his lesson and became a kinder person.
