I WAS in grade school when I started my hobby of collecting stationery. It was an "in" thing in school. Most of the girls in class own a box, or folder of assorted stationery. We buy, trade, and sell it to each other. It was fun. It was even more than fun because I learned something important because of it.

One of my closest friends brought me a cute, small and pink-colored Hello Kitty pad of stationery one school day. It was even sweet smelling. I loved it the moment she showed it to me. I was so excited about it. I eagerly asked her to give me a piece, just a piece of the whole pad. For a certain reason, she said "I'm sorry, I can't give you one." No matter how hard I pleaded and asked, she really wouldn't give me one. I got angry and it made her sad.

I was so surprised to see, after a week, that she was not mad about my wrong attitude. For a week, I refused to talk to her nor share lunch with her. It made her unhappy, and it made me unhappy too. I realized it was wrong because my attitude could destroy a nice friendship just because I didn't have her stationery. I went to her after class and said sorry. We had merienda together in the afternoon.

I was so ashamed I acted like that. It was not right. Of course, my friend has a personal reason for not telling me why she can't give me a piece, and I should understand that. Friends don't only share stuff and dreams with each other. They should also understand each other's shortcomings, mistakes, and especially privacy. I wouldn't exchange a friendship for a piece of a stationery. Other kids and even grown-ups should understand that, it's not nice. It makes the world sadder and it can make a lot of persons unhappy. No one would really want that. Would you?