Sam’s father passed away when he was still a baby. Since then, he had helped his mom, Susan, earn extra cash when he had time off from school.
Susan barely earned enough money to keep the lights on and pay for Sam’s school fees as she was autistic and struggled to find a steady job.
In class, Sam was constantly teased. B*llies at school often called him names like “bum” and “broke boy.” One b*lly in particular, Jared, once told him, “People like you will always be stuck living in trailers.”
One day, their landlord, Tobey, came to collect the rent. Tobey also worked as a real estate agent in the area and had posters all over town. During Tobey’s visit, a massive storm hit town, and he tried to rush home, but his car wouldn’t start.
“Don’t worry, sir. I’ll look under the hood and see what’s wrong,” Sam said. Sam was quite handy and knew how to fix anything that had a motor. One of his weekend jobs was helping a mechanic in town.
In under an hour, Sam had Tobey’s car fixed.
“Thanks, kid. I’ve never seen someone fix an engine in the rain before,” Tobey said.
One day, Jared noticed that Sam was absent from school. He suggested to his friends that they should pay Sam a visit.
“Let’s go see what the broke boy is getting up to in his wrecked hut,” Jared joked.
When they got close to Sam’s trailer, they saw that he and his mother were packing boxes into a fancy SUV. They realized that he was moving out and became curious.
When Sam, Susan, and Tobey drove off, Jared and his friends tried to follow them. The SUV was far too quick for them to keep up with on their bikes, and they soon lost the trace.
The following day, Jared and his friends followed Sam after school to see where he had moved. Later that afternoon, Jared saw that Sam’s mom was holding hands with Tobey.
Jared recognized Tobey from the posters all around town.
“Holy cow, Sam’s mom is dating the real estate guy!” Jared told his friends.
“I was a real piece of work back then, but life has done a good job of humbling me since.”
From that day on, Jared never teased Sam again.
10 years later, Jared received an invitation in the mail.
When he arrived, he was surprised to see that Sam had organized the entire event.
Jared told Sam that he felt karma had caught up with him because he ended up living in the same trailer park where Sam used to live. Sam was kind to Jared and forgave him for his treatment in school.
“I know times are tough for you right now, but I’ll tell you something that my mother once told me. You may not have much, but always be grateful for the little that you have,” Sam told him. Some of Sam’s old classmates asked him how he could afford such a nice place.
Sam revealed that Tobey taught him the ins and outs of selling luxury real estate and that he had taken over his stepfather’s company.
“My stepdad taught me a valuable lesson many years ago. He told me that I’ll never find happiness if there’s bitterness in my heart,” Sam said.
All of Sam’s classmates congratulated him on his success and told him that he was the pride of the entire school.