The red flower and the lesson learned

I was born in Dubai and lived in Al Ghusais Sheikh Colony until I completed 2nd grade. I attended Silver Indian Kindergarten School, which was a small school with only preschool, LKG, UKG, and 1st grade. I would leave early in the morning and return by 1 PM. The school bus would stop right in front of our building, so the kids didn’t have to walk far and were safe.

When I was in my LKG, an incident happened. One day, as I was heading into the apartment building, I found a little red flower-shaped plastic object on the floor. It was a bit dirty inside, but I picked it up and put it in my pocket. I walked to our apartment, which was the second one from the left, and went inside. Normally, I didn’t hide anything from my mom, but before I could show her what I had found, she told me she would be right back because she needed to dry the clothes outside. I watched her leave with a bucket of clothes.

I was excited about the tiny object I found, but the dirt inside it bothered me. Impulsively, I decided to try to clean it by scraping it with the edge of a black metallic slide. I scratched at it with all my force, but the dirt wouldn’t come off. Suddenly, there was a spark of fire for a millisecond. It didn’t burn me, but it scared me to death. When my mom returned, she immediately saw my face and asked if everything was okay. That question made me burst into tears, and she became worried, especially since she had just left me moments ago.

I showed her the red object, unable to stop crying. She explained that it was called a “pottas,” a small firecracker that makes a loud noise and sparks when used with a metal toy gun, something teenagers and tween boys used back then. She took it from my hand and threw it away. She told me this was a lesson: never pick up anything that doesn’t belong to you because you never know what it is. Now 36 years later, I still follow my mom’s advice and never take anything that isn’t mine.