literature

100 Themes Challenge - 015 -Sorrow

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Sorrow

“Daddy...I-I mean Sensei,” Leo called out from inside the dojo. “Can you come and help me?”

“One moment, my son,” Splinter called back. He looked down at his youngest son, who sat at the table staring down at a paperback book. He had been instructing him on what he needed to read for the night in order to catch up for the following day's lesson.

“Alright,” he continued. “Like I was saying, I need you to read through this whole chapter and then we will go from there.”

Mikey groaned.

“I mean it, Michelangelo,” Splinter urged. “You have fallen behind greatly on your reading. It is important that we get you caught up.”

Mikey sighed. “I know. I'll keep trying.”

Splinter ruffled his bandana. “Good.”

“Sensei! Are you coming?” Leo called again.

“Patience, Leonardo! I am coming!”

Splinter entered the dojo to find Leonardo practicing a kata.

“What is that you need, my son?” he asked.

Leo stopped and sighed. “I just can't get this kata right. Can you help me?”

“Of course. Why don't you show me the best you've got and I will tell you how you can fix it?”

Leo nodded and began to perform the kata. Leo stepped his right foot forward and threw a punch, and then swept his leg and attempted a back flip, only to wind up on his shell.

He groaned. “See? I can't get the back flip right.”

Splinter crouched down and helped him to his feet.

“It seems you are having difficulty transitioning smoothly from the sweeping of your leg to the back flip,” Splinter critiqued.

“Well, how do I fix it?”

“You must work on your agility. You should practice the transition slowly until you have mastered it enough to do it swiftly.”

Leo sighed. “But Sensei, a ninja has to move fast. I can't learn a kata by doing it slow.”

“To gain mastery, you must start slow. By going slowly, you are memorizing the small details that must come naturally to you when you are being agile,” Splinter explained. “Mastery does not come over night.”

Leo groaned.

“Do it again, but do the transition slowly this time,” Splinter ordered.

“Hai, Sensei.”

Leo moved a foot forward and threw the punch, then got down slightly as he swept his leg, he then gradually bent his upper torso backwards and pushed his momentum, but lost his balance again and fell on his shell.

“Ugh, see? It didn't work! I'm just no good at back flips.”

“Nonsense, you will get it. You must keep trying. I want you to do it again. Go slower if you must.”

“Daddy!” Raphael's voice called out from the other room. “Come help me!”

Splinter sighed. “I must go see what Raphael needs, so I am leaving you alone. I want you to keep working on that transition. That is an order.”

“Hai, Sensei.”

Splinter left the dojo and went to the living room where he found Raph with a hardback math textbook, trying to work on the practice questions on a sheet of paper.

“What is it, Raphael?” he asked.

Raph tossed his pencil down on the coffee table. “I can't do this math. I don't get it!”

Splinter took a seat beside him and looked at the problems he was working on. It was addition, subtraction, and regrouping.

“What exactly are you struggling with?”

Raph groaned. “All of it!”

“You must be more specific if you wish for me to help you.”

Raph sighed. “I don't know how to add or subtract these really big numbers together. They're too big to do in my head.”

“My son, I have taught you that you do not have to do them in your head. You are right; they are too difficult. That is why you must work out the problem on paper.” He pointed to the first addition problem. “First, write that problem down just how it is written.”

Raph silently obeyed.
“Good. Now, you need to start from the left and work your way to the right. Add the first column of digits together, then the second, and then the third. However, if the second and last number are greater than ten, then you must take the number in front and add it to the column before it.”

Raph groaned and shook his head. “I can never remember that.”

“Of course you can. Here, I will walk you through it. Take this first row of numbers; what is two plus five?”

Raph thought carefully. “Seven.”

“Correct, now write down seven under that row. Now, add the next column of numbers; what is nine plus two?”

“Eleven.”

“Good, but since eleven is a two-digit number, you must take the number in the ones place and write it under the column, but move the number in the tens place over the next column to the left.”

Raph did so.

“Alright, now last, you will add the numbers in this final column together. What is one plus three plus four?”

Raph counted carefully. “Eight?”

“Excellent, now what is the final answer?”

“Eight hundred and seventeen?”

“Very good, Raphael! See? That was not so hard,” Splinter patted him on his carapace.

“Now, why don't you try the next one on your own?”

Raph sighed and wrote the next problem down. He stared at it for quite a long time.

“Remember, Raphael, you must start from the left and make your way to the numbers on the far right.”

Raph began to work out the problem, but got stuck on another two digit number and forgot how to carry them.

“Sensei! Can you come here?” Donnie called from his room.

Splinter sighed. “Raphael, I must go see what Donatello needs. I want you to keep working on your math work. Remember what I told you.”

Raph groaned. “Hai, Sensei.”

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After several more failures, Leo picked himself up and reluctantly tried the kata again. He routinely put a foot forward as he threw a punch, and then swept his leg and slowly attempted the back flip again. This time he almost did it, but didn't hold his momentum long enough and wound up falling on his face.
He groaned and pulled himself up into a sitting position. “I can't do it,” he said and buried his face in his arms.
-----------

Splinter made his way into Donnie's room. “Donatello, you called for me?”

“Yeah daddy, I did. I'm trying to draw this diagram of the human's internal anatomy from this book, but I can't seem to get it right. I want it to be as accurate as possible, but no matter how hard I try, it still comes out looking like a mess. I'm no artist...”

“Why do you wish to draw the diagram? It is right there in the book for you to look at.”

“I can memorize it and learn it better if I draw it out on my own, but it won't do me any good if the pictures don't look accurate at all.”

“I see,” Splinter replied. “My son, if you want it to be accurate, then you must concentrate on what you see. Pay attention to the subtle details of the image, not the image as a whole. After all, it is the subtle details that bring the image together.”

Donnie sighed. “But it's so hard.”

“Art was never meant to be easy.”

“I don't even know where to start. There's so much going on in this one picture!”

“You must find a place to start and get every subtle detail, particularly how the objects of the image run together.”

“I've already had to redraw it five times,” Donnie whined. “I'm no good at drawing.”

Splinter picked up the pencil and forced it into Donnie's hand.

“You must keep trying. Remember, focus on the subtle details that make the image. Not the whole image itself.”

“Okay...”
-----------
Raph stared at a subtraction problem. The word 'regrouping' ran through his mind, but he could not remember its significance nor how to use it. The numbers continued to taunt him and began to look like some foreign language.

He had had enough. Raph growled and scribbled all over the paper, ripped it in two, and then broke the pencil in half, throwing its pieces across the room. Lastly, he slammed the book shut and dropped his head down on top of it.

“Stupid math.” he grumbled.
-----------
Seeing that dinnertime was approaching, Splinter went into the kitchen to begin cooking. Before he could even make it to the sink to wash up, he was stopped by the sound of sniffling coming from the table. He looked in the sound's direction and saw Michelangelo sitting with his head down over the book that he was ordered to read.

“Aww, what is the matter, Michelangelo?” he said, sitting down next to him and resting a consoling hand on his carapace.

Mikey hiccuped and lifted his head. “I-I can't r-read.”

“Of course you can, my son. You know your letters, and I have seen you read before.”

Mikey looked at him with tearful blue eyes. “N-no,” he argued. “I c-can't. A-all the letters c-confuse m-me.” He shook his head. “I'm j-just too s-stupid.”

“My son, I know not of such a word. You are very intelligent,” Splinter scolded.

“N-no, Donnie's smart. I'm s-stupid. I c-can't even read a f-few pages.”

“Everyone has their challenges, Michelangelo. Yours is reading. It is nothing to be ashamed of. You will get it in time, you've just got to keep trying.”

“B-but the h-harder I try to r-read, the harder it is t-to r-read the l-letters...”

Splinter sighed and shut the book. Mikey flashed him a curious look.

Splinter lifted him up. “Come, I know what must be done.”

To be continued...
This one will be a two-parter with the next theme.

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