Tariq found an elegant pen with a gold-colored cap in the schoolyard, lying beside a trash bin as if someone had dropped it. Tariq admired the pen’s beauty and thought, «No one saw me pick it up, I could just keep it in my bag».

Tariq put the pen in his pocket, but all day long he felt something strange bothering him inside. He suddenly remembered the day he lost his favorite sketchbook, the one his grandmother had given him, and how sad he had been, searching everywhere for it in vain, wishing whoever found it would return it to him.

Tariq decided to ask around for the pen’s owner instead of keeping it, writing a small notice and pinning it to the class board: «Found a gold pen in the yard, who does it belong to?». The next day, his classmate Lama came to him with shining eyes and said, «That’s my pen! My grandfather gave it to me before he traveled, I thought I’d lost it forever».

Tariq returned the pen to Lama, happy to see her joy, and felt a great sense of peace in his heart, far greater than he would have felt keeping the pen for himself. Tariq learned that day that remembering how it feels to lose something dear helps us understand others’ feelings, and that returning what isn’t ours brings a joy nothing else can match.