She wouldn’t even look me in the eye
“I just don’t get it,” said Megan. “We were nice to the new girl. We were nice to Alexis. But she just walked away.”
“Was she rude?” her mom asked, opening a drawer to grab silverware for supper.
Megan shook her head. She couldn’t say Alexis was rude. But then again, she couldn’t say she wasn’t.
“It was just weird,” said Megan. “Maybe Matt is right- she doesn’t like us.” She hesitated slightly before continuing. Then she added, “Besides, I don’t think she likes deaf people, anyway.”
Lainee had been counting spoons but she stopped. “What makes you think she doesn’t like deaf people?” she asked.
“Because she talked to the other girls, but she wouldn’t talk to me,” said Megan. “She wouldn’t even look me in the eye.”
“Well…,” Lainee began, counting forks and knives she was ready to give Megan the advice she wanted. “I think…,” her mom continued – reaching into the cupboard to search for a serving bowl big enough for the mashed potatoes.
“What do you think?” Megan prompted.
“I think you were right before,” said Lainee. “I think this new girl is shy.”
“But why should she be shy?” asked Megan. “She’s practically perfect!”
“Nobody is perfect,” said Lainee.
“This girl is,” Megan insisted.
“Who?” said Matt, returning to the kitchen to show off his clean hands. “The new girl who’s so smart and pretty and good with the ball?”
“She doesn’t like me because I’m deaf,” said Megan.
“Don’t say that,” said Lainee. “I don’t like it when you say that.”
“But maybe it’s true,” said Megan.
Extract from the book Nobody’s perfect
by Marlee Matlin
All Rights Reserved.
New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, c2006.
Call number: J MAT
Extract contributed by Faizah Binte Mohd Salleh
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Should we look for resemblance between us and others before we build friendship?
July 10th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
I don’t think there needs to be a resemblance between two people for there to be friendship. Friendship can occur between two completely different people. If it couldn’t there would be no such thing as racial harmony in singapore.
August 8th, 2009 at 11:22 am
While it is true that people tend to bond together when they have the same likes, interests, or experience, that does not mean that we have to look for resemblances. Everybody is unique; special in their own way. It’s what makes us who we are, and who we are is what people like.
July 1st, 2010 at 1:03 pm
I think that there us no need for resemblance between us and others before we build friendshipa as people have different likings. We can make friends with people that is different as we can learn something new from others. We should not not make friends with those that does not look alike or have differences.We should also not talk bad of our friends just because they are different.
Anyway, God has created each and every one of us in a special way. I think we should be happy with ourselves and respect the views of our friends. I feel that this is the reason why we celebrate Racial Harmony Day.
July 1st, 2010 at 1:19 pm
I don`t think we should look at the resemblance between us and others before building up the friendship as frienship does not depend on how we look.We can become friends even though we don`t look alike because everyone is unique in one way or another.We should not be racist against eachother as bestfriends can be of different races.
we should not judge a book by its cover likewse we should not judge a person by how they look before building the friendship between us. We should accept everyone in the way they are .
July 1st, 2010 at 1:23 pm
I do not think that we should look for resemblance to build friendship. Everyone is different with special personalities. Friendship is accepting others regardless of skin colour, talents and many more. Friendship ends riots and disputes quarrel.
Making friends does not require the apperance but inside of another person’s heart. Without friends, everyone will feel lonely and cannot express how they feel. There will be a burden inside their heart, feeling tempted to say out things they could not.
Everyone will all experience failures in life and feel disappointed. Without friends, someone have no one to encourage him. That person will then feel a heavy burden on himself and cry, not having himself to stand up and try again.
Friends are very important in life. Having a friend might be the best thing that can ever happened to you…
July 1st, 2010 at 8:05 pm
I do not think there is a need to look for resemblance between us and others. Best friends can be of different races but they still get along very well. We should not look at other people’s races, skin colour and religions.
Friends are indispensable to us. When we encounter problems, we can always confide in them and they can comfort us. Without friends, we will be living in a lonely world. We should be more social and make friends with different races. Besides, there is no rule to say that we can only be friends with people of the same race as us.
Disputes and quarrels are the cause of riots. Since we are living in the same world, lets learn to accept one another.
In a nutshell, we should not judge a book by its cover.
July 2nd, 2010 at 11:40 am
I don’t think it is important to look for resemblance between us and others before we build friendship. Nobody looks exactly the way which you prefer to be your friend. Friends can be in different races and religions. Some friends which you really want to friend with sometimes is only look nice outside but is unhealthy or mean inside . We cannot judge a person by looking at his/her appearance.
Friends are the most important thing to you. If you encounter some difficulties, true friends will come and help you. If you don’t have friends, most probably you will suffer in the difficulties.
July 2nd, 2010 at 11:48 am
Well, in my opinion, I do not think that there is a need for resemblance between us and others to make friends. In this world, nobody is perfect. Everyone in the world is different from others. We should not jump to conclusions or judge a book by its cover. She may just be too shy and is looking for acceptance, hoping to make friends with you. You should also understand that she is new and is having a little trouble to make new friends. Try to gain her trust and get to know her better. Therefore, we should always make friends even with people who are from different races and countries. If not, why is there a need for ” Racial Harmony Day” ?
July 2nd, 2010 at 11:49 am
No, i would think not. If we only make friends with people whom we have similarities with, our lives would be extremely boring and we would have no different points of view to talk about. An example of a bad friendship could be like this:
” Do you like strawberries?” I asked.
” Yes. Do you?” answered Dhanyiaa.
” Oh, yes, I do.” I replied.
A good one would be like this:
” Do you like strawberries?” I asked.
” No, not really.” answered Dhanyiaa.
” I see. Why do you not like them?” I asked for the second time.
The conversation would just go on naturally. Like I previously pointed out, we should make friends with everyone. WIth people that we are similar to and with people we are not. Having friends of all kinds is a good thing because when we face difficulties, we can ask our different friends to give us comments about what they think of the current situation. However, if we are not good friends, we ourselves may often screw up our own friendships.
July 2nd, 2010 at 11:52 am
I feel that there need not be a resemblance in two people to create frindship. Many people have different talents and weak points. If we make friends with a foreigner, we can learn more about their culture and the festivals that they celebrate.
Even if someone has many weak points, we should not despise her and gossip about her with other friends. If that happens, nobody will have friends and we will be living in loneliness.
We should not judge a book by its cover. Even if a person is a different race, her personality is what that matters most. It is better than having a friend that is very pretty and smart but has a mean personality. We should be flexible of making friends so we will be able to make many friends.
July 3rd, 2010 at 11:28 am
I do not think that it is important for us to look for resemblance between us and others before we build a friendship as no one is exactly like another person. Every one has different strengths and weaknesses. Instead of teasing a person about his or her flaws, we should learn from her strengths. If everyone was the same, the world would be very boring as every one will be as good as every one else. we should not judge others by thier appearances as someone might look nice on the outside but mean on the inside. When you make friends with other races, you can also learn more about about thier culture. Besides, it is always good to have more friends as we can always confine in them when we have troubles. HOwever, If we do not want to have friends, we would be very lonely…
July 6th, 2010 at 10:15 am
I don’t think that we need to look for a resemblance between us and others before we build a friendship.We can befriend anyone of any size, colour, religion and whatnot. Most importantly, is that you get along well and not care about any family background. If you only befriend people that are similar to you, you will have a very boring friendship. Also, if we only befriend people who are the same race as us, we will not learn anything about other cultures and people. We will also seem very anti-social, befriending only people that resemble us.
July 6th, 2010 at 10:18 am
I think that we should not. Everybody is different and they all deserve a chance. We do not have the right to judge others because they are “weird”. We may be the one who is the “weird” one. Therefore, we should not look for a resemblance in someone before proceeding to build a friendship.
July 6th, 2010 at 10:19 am
Its not important to have someone who is like you to be your friend. If you arer surrounded by people who are exactly like you and thopse who are of the same race, colour, religion and etc. It would never be fun as there would be nothing you can ever learn from your friends. It would be a very boring friendship then.
July 6th, 2010 at 10:20 am
Sometimes, we could consider whether or not to make friends with a person. She could be really good towards you but a backstabber as well. I think friends are usually those who are nice, friendly and people who have the same likes as you. Some people are very sensitive and some are very boorish, thus we must make the right decisions in choosing our friends.
July 7th, 2010 at 10:00 am
We should not make comparisons or just see if they are cool or cute. What we should really consider is thier hearts.If they tend to bully kids that are younger than them then, i don”t think we should really hang out with them. It would be better to go with someone whom you think is fit to be a good friend.
July 7th, 2010 at 10:06 am
It’s not important to have someone who resemble or look like us to be our friend. It will never be fun to have someone who is the same race, colour, religion, appearance,knowledge because you’ll never know the purpose of other religions, family backgrounds and also, you’ll never get to know someone who is different from you. Being able to know others of different religion and races is a fabulous thing as you get to expand your knowledge and also, getting to make more new friends of different hobbies and activites. A true friend is someone that encourages you when you need help, caring and loving for you.
We should neither judge a book by its cover nor judge a person by how they look. We should accept their lookings and physical appearance because God made them the way they are suppose to be.
July 7th, 2010 at 10:08 am
I felt that its not important to have friends to be the same as you . God created everyone differently with some good or bad points . We should have more friends with differently religion , races to know more about them and their culture not to criticise them .
We should have more friends with different thinking so that we can brainstorm together and share our ideas during project time .
July 7th, 2010 at 10:19 am
It does not even matter if our friends are different from us. It just matters true friendship. If we really want the person to be our friend we would not even mind how would their charactor be like and their different races. We should not even compare who we are, and who they are.
July 7th, 2010 at 10:21 am
Actually so what if our friends are different from us? Each of us have different ability to do things. Why do we care so much about others or what?
July 7th, 2010 at 10:25 am
No. we should not. We cannot just befriend with people who has the same interest, or even someone who is close to you. Even though friends are important, so we need to have a good friends to encourage you when you are sad, unhappy, or something happened in school or at home. But it is also important to make friends who are totally different from us so that we can also learn from those people about their culture and know more about them. Theres no hate in this world, remember? God says: ” Love your enermy as i have loved you” Forgive and forgive. It is very tired to hate someone. Even if you have forgiven that person but the person does not want to forgive you, so be it. It is already a big step forward if you have forgived that person. Let the past be past and start afresh. God created everyone differently. Everyone have their unique ways because god made us special.
July 7th, 2010 at 10:28 am
It does not matter if our friends are different from us. It only matter if she/he was really wanting to be our friends. Even if she did a mistake, we must try to give her a chance to apologise and explain with the situation.
July 7th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
No.It does not matter that your friend is different from you.The only thing that matters is that do you want to be friends with her from your heart.Do you want to create a long lasting friendship.Everyone is different ,everyone is unique.
July 8th, 2010 at 11:50 am
No. It is because everyone is special and everyone is different.When our friends get angry with us, we must learn to forgive and forget.Even if she/he does not forgive us we must still forgive and apologise if we are the one which is wrong.Friendship can never end so long as we are willing to forgive and forget.if the person is weak in something we must never say some thing bad about the person because God has made us all differently than others.each of us also has weakness.
We are all different than others.
July 8th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
I think you do not need to look for resemblance before we start friendship because we never know the character of the person before we make friends with that person.We all know from God’s word that no one is perfect but in the bible God is perfect.Like if someone wants to be your friend , maybe she putting a plot on you so you will get into trouble. We must look into the heart of the person first and learn her real attitude.Everyone is different.If everyone is the same,the world would be very boring.If everyone is different,the world would be fun.You cannot expect the person to be the same as you as God made us differently.If your friend did something wrong, forgive him or her.
July 8th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
No, you do not need to look for a resemble before you start a friendship, as everyone is different and infect it is also a law of god for everyone to be different. So you cannot expect your friend to be the same as you just that you should learnt your friends character before you start saying and spreading bad remarks about someone. As what you say might not be true when you find out your friends true character. While finding your friend’s true character you should firstly give yourself a test of faith. Go step by step and slowly learn your friend’s true character. You should be patient and not rush or you might hurt your friend’s feelings.
July 9th, 2010 at 11:13 am
No, you should not , as their personality may be different. As the old saying says “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” So no matter how much different the person looks , you could end up being friends with that person . When you make friends , you should put aside your differences .Besides it could be interesting to make friends with people from different places . you could learn their cultures.
July 9th, 2010 at 11:13 am
Looking for resemblance before building friendship is not necessary as no matter how different one person is from the other, they still can be best friends and everyone is special in their own ways. As no one cane be the same, we should not look down on others just because they are different. And as the saying goes, ‘never judge a book by its cover.’
July 9th, 2010 at 11:20 am
I think we should not look for resemblance between us and others before we build friendship. Everyone is made differently with different character and personality.
Having friendship is accepting each other, whether he/ she has a different skin colour,
different talents and different nationality.
We must learn to appreciate friends and accept them even though they are different from us. All in all, god has created us in his own image.
Tyler sim
4 Love
July 9th, 2010 at 11:21 am
Should we look for a resemblance between us and others before we build a friendship?
No, we should not look for a resemblance between us and others before we build a friendship. Each friend is different. Like the fingerprints on our hands, nobody has the same fingerprint.
The same goes for friend, nobody is the same. Every child is different from another. If we should look for a resemblance before building a friendship, and we find out that we are not a friend, then we would not want to friend them.
Can you imagine what life would be without friends? No one to talk to, share woes and wealth with, life would be horrible. Even if we do not want to friend them, then we should tell them before we become to close.
There would definitely sadness, but at least, not as sad as when you tell somebody that you don’t like them when she becomes very close to you. So, don’t be picky and look for a resemblance between us and others before building a friendship. Unless, you don’t want to have friends.
July 9th, 2010 at 11:21 am
No, we should not. Nobody is exactly like us, even a pair of twins. In fact, it is more interesting to have friends that are different from us. That way, we can learn more about their custom, tradition, favourite and more. You will not get bored with your friend too because of your differences. Mixing around with other races is better for us. Anyway, we are to perservere with others. We must accept the differences in others .
For example, you are a malay but your other malay friends do not like you. However, your Indian friend likes you a lot.
Would you choose a malay friend or your Indian friend to be your best friend ? I would choose my indian friend to be my best friend.
July 9th, 2010 at 11:24 am
No , we should not . Nobody is the same .If we befriend somebody like us ,the chance of quarelling will be higher. For example , the teacher wants to choose a class monitor. Both of you use the same method to gain favour from the teacher. However, the teacher picked somebody else. If both of you are petty, you might quarell. However, if you picked somebody else, she might not want to be the class monitor. This way ,you will not quarrel.
July 9th, 2010 at 11:26 am
I think we should not look for resemblance between us and others before we build friendship. We should accept others as they are. No matter what they look like, what their skin colour may be, we must not let this interfere with us being friends.Sometimes, there are some things that we need to learn from our friends instead of just depending on ourselves to complete the task. The way they care for us, the way they help us and the way they work with us, it all matters.
All in all, we need to care for all of our friends.
July 9th, 2010 at 11:27 am
I think we should not look for resemblance between us and others before we build friendship. Everyone is made differently with different character and personality.
Having friendship is accepting each other, whether he/ she has a different skin colour,
different talents and different nationality.
We must learn to appreciate friends and accept them even though they are different from us. All in all, god has created us in his own image.
July 9th, 2010 at 11:27 am
No. You don’t have to look for a resemblance but you may want to know his/her likes and interest. Sometimes, having the same resemblance makes it boring but if you know how to keep the subject going, that will be a positive point. If you like science and your friend likes science, you may want to ask which part of science. There are so many parts of science. Examples are physics, chemistry and biology. My best friend and I weren’t on very good terms but now we are best friends! Amazing, right?
July 9th, 2010 at 11:28 am
No. You don’t have to look for a resemblance but you may want to know his/her likes and interest. Sometimes, having the same resemblance makes it boring but if you know how to keep the subject going, that will be a positive point. If you like science and your friend likes science, you may want to ask which part of science. There are so many parts of science. Examples are physics, chemistry and biology. My best friend and I weren’t on very good terms but now we are best friends! Amazing, right?
July 9th, 2010 at 11:29 am
No, I do not think so. Even if we are different, we still can be friends like me. From Primary 1 to now, almost all my best friends were Indians and Malays. Of course I have best friends that are Chinese too but most of them were Malays or Indians. Although I am a Korean and learn Chinese, I still have good friends who are from different countries and races. That is also one reason why I think Racial Harmony Day is important. I think we all should know that nobody is totally same as each and everyone of us. We all should respect other races and understand them when they do different things and do things in different ways. We should accept everyone as the way they are and we should respect them and their races too.
July 9th, 2010 at 11:29 am
No we shouldn’t, because our friends will get hurt if we criticize them. Also, if we keep doing this, we will have no friends at all and the world will seem very unfriendly. We will also be alone and sad so we can learn from this story not to judge a book by its cover.
July 9th, 2010 at 11:32 am
No, we should not. It may be easier to make friends with similarities as you can talk about them. If you do not have similarities it may be a bit tougher as you may find it more difficult to find things to talk about that both of you like or know about. Singapore would not have so many different cultures and religions if we did not make friends from other races or religions.
June 13th, 2012 at 10:57 am
I think we shouldn’t look for resemblance when we are building friendships, as this will makes us unable to know something new from friends .