You Had Me in "Stitches" - My Lesson on Human Nature

By Kieran Mangla

Grade 5

Teacher: Mrs. Muirhead

On January 21, 2012, I got stitches for the first time. By accident my brother hit me with a metal tipped shovel, which opened a gash across the bridge of my nose. My nose was bleeding so heavily that I had to go see a doctor to get stitches. Thankfully, Dr. Prasad Sureddi, a plastic surgeon and a close family friend, met me at his office even though it was snowing heavily to stitch up the gash. That's when I noticed that people will come to help you, even if it is snowing hard outside. That was my first lesson on human nature.

Dr. Prasad was a very friendly person while putting in the stitches. My mom said, “(Prasad) is a big teddy bear." And he definitely was a teddy bear. Being a family friend, he was very nice to me. He kept me calm and told me everything that was going on. He told me to count to four while breathing and to relax. We both talked about what was going on at the South Carolina primary to keep my mind off the pain. As he stitched, I wondered what my friends might say about how I look.

What I was most worried about was going to school. I thought people might point and make fun of me. But surprisingly, I was treated very nicely. When I was sitting to the side during gym class, my third grade friend gave me his Sonic the Hedgehog book to read. In fact, another friend gave me an Angry Birds bandage to wear to school. By the next day, I was treated as if I was not hurt.

But not everybody is nice to you. Not even your best friends. One of my oldest friends actually treated me badly. When I told him that I could not attend ski club, he said I was not his friend and I was dead to him. He did not act very concerned about what had happened. The next day at lunch, I waved for him to sit with me, and he just avoided me with a dirty look. When he finally sat with me, he said that my scar looked ugly.  Ouch!  He was not on my side to comfort me in my time of need. He has known me the longest, yet he was angry at me for some unknown reason. That’s when I learned another lesson on human nature. Not everyone is your true friend, especially when you’re in need of compassion.

Some of the easiest things became hard with the stitches on. It was hard to eat and talk. I could only open my mouth a certain height before it started to hurt. I had to use a special soap to clean my stitches in the shower.  While I was applying soap to my stitches, I had to be very gentle.  The slightest pressure could hurt the painful stitches. The same thing happened with changing my clothes.  If I put pressure on my nose while taking off my shirt, it made me wince. I could not sleep on my face at night. I had to change my bandage before I went to bed and when I woke up. Even after the stitches came out, taking care of my scar was annoying.  I had to wear a silicone patch to bed. This was one other lesson on human nature.

I will never lose my dignity, no matter what anybody does or says to me. I still keep my head up with pride. This incident made me a stronger person as I learned some of the greatest lessons on human nature.  I will never let how I look get me down.