7 Deadly Sins #4 Wrath: Samara and the Broken Pencil

Samara was a bright and creative girl who loved to draw. She carried her sketchbook and favorite pencils with her everywhere she went. Drawing made her happy, especially when she was having a tough day at school.

 

One afternoon, after a particularly difficult math test, Samara was feeling frustrated. She had found the test hard, and even though she tried her best, she wasn’t sure she did well. All she wanted to do was get home and lose herself in her drawings.

 

When Samara got home, she sat down at the kitchen table and took out her sketchbook. She reached into her pencil case for her favorite pencil, the one with the rainbow-colored eraser, only to find that it was broken in half. Her little brother, Jay, had used it earlier that day and accidentally snapped it.

 

Samara’s face turned red with anger. She stormed into Jay’s room, holding the broken pencil in her hand. “Jay! How could you break my favorite pencil? You’re so careless!” she shouted.

 

Jay looked up, surprised and a little scared. “I’m sorry, Samara. I didn’t mean to break it. I was just trying to draw like you,” he said, his voice trembling.

 

But Samara was too angry to listen. She grabbed one of Jay’s toy cars and snapped off the wheels. “There! Now you know how it feels!” she yelled.

 

Question: How do you think Jay feels now that Samara has broken his toy? Do you think Samara’s reaction was fair?

 

Jay’s eyes filled with tears as he looked at his broken toy. “Why did you do that?” he cried. “I said I was sorry!”

 

Seeing Jay so upset made Samara pause. She hadn’t meant to make him cry, but in her anger, she had acted without thinking. Now, not only was her pencil broken, but she had also broken something that Jay loved.

 

Samara felt a wave of regret wash over her. She knew that what she did was wrong, and she started to feel ashamed of how she had let her anger get the best of her.

 

Taking a deep breath, Samara knelt down beside Jay. “I’m really sorry, Jay,” she said softly. “I shouldn’t have broken your toy. I was just so mad about my pencil, but that doesn’t make it okay.”

 

Jay wiped his tears and nodded. “It’s okay, Samara. I didn’t mean to break your pencil either.”

 

Samara gave Jay a hug and promised to fix his toy. She also remembered that she had other pencils she could use, and that getting so angry didn’t solve anything—it only made things worse.

 

Question: What do you think Samara learned from this experience? How could she handle her anger better next time?

 

From that day on, Samara tried to remember to take a deep breath and think before acting when she felt angry. She realized that it’s okay to feel upset, but it’s important not to let that anger hurt others. By talking things out and staying calm, she found that problems were much easier to solve.

 

Moral: Wrath can lead to actions we regret. It’s important to control our anger and think before we act, so we don’t hurt the people we care about.