The Boy In The Angry Pyjamas

P.S: Many of you might have noticed that the title of the article is inspired from the book or the movie, ‘The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas’. I will tell you that this article has nothing to do with the book or the movie. I just selected this name as the title because, I thought it was suited for the content of the article. Thank you.

I know of a boy, who is nine years old. Whenever I saw him, he was always dressed in his angry pyjamas. Like his outift he was an angry boy. Whenever his friends teased him he would smack them down, when his elder brothers scolded him he would smack them too, when his mother adviced him he would give her a ‘call off’ order (his anger was such that his mother had no choice other than to accept), and when his father – in fact his Colonel father – ordered him, he angrily denied them too. Such anger for a little boy of his age?!!

But, one day I saw him without his angry pyjamas. He wore nothing but a pair of trousers. He was just standing there, looking at the mirror. That day when I saw him in his black trousers, I saw what his heart wore. His heart was just covered in a pure white cloth. His heart was like a blank paper. Innocent like a new born baby.

Dear friends, Situations often force us to wear ‘angry’ pyjamas or a ‘sad’ grey shirt or even an old torn tee. When I told you about the boy’s anger I forgot to tell you some details. I forgot to tell you that his friends teased him for being black. I forgot to tell you that his brothers were nothing but bullies. I forgot to tell you that his mother was not his actual mother, she was his cruel stepmother. I forgot to tell you that his father was a Nazi who forcefully implemented brutal ‘home rules’. Then how can you expect the boy not to wear the angry pyjamas? He tried wearing the sad grey shirt but it only made things worse for him.

Again friends, situations often force us to be ‘The Boy In The Angry Pyjamas’. We cannot expect the people around us to be perfect. We cannot expect us to be perfect. We are human beings and it is a known fact that we are imperfect. So, moods change every now and then in our life. But, we have to prove our worth by always wearing that smile of ours. I admit that I often forgot to wear that smile. There are instances in my life where I wore that angry pyjamas and those sad grey shirts, but I regret all those now. Even though I am not so experienced with life, my small experiences have taught me to always wear that smile.

Now, I will tell you ‘how to deal with moods’. What I like to do when I am angry or sad or in any mood other than the ‘happy mood’ is, I remove whatever dress I am wearing at that moment (whether it be the angry pyjamas or the sad grey shirt or the torn tee), then I go and stand under the shower and have a nice bath. After the nice refreshing bath, I come out and open my wardrobe. In my wardrobe, I could again see washed angry pyjamas, a washed sad grey shirt and a washed torn tee. But I ignore them all and take out the nicely ironed ‘Happy’ Hawaiian Shirt. It is colourful with beautiful flowers on it. I get dressed up and then I again go to dressing table, open the drawer and take my Ray-Ban glasses and put them on. And before I leave, I take that cream coloured hat of mine and nicely place it on my head. And to finish things of I wear that smile of mine. And that’s it, no matter what comes in my way I will be able to smile at it.

Are you feeling angry, frustrated, sad, depressed? Then go try out what I like to do. Have a nice bath, wear that happy Hawaiian shirt, wear that Ray-Ban glasses, wear that hat. And don’t forget to wear that beautiful smile of yours. And remember to take those ‘Angry’ pyjamas, ‘Sad’ Grey shirts and the ‘Old’ torn tees with you, so that you can discard them on your way to school or workplace.

“You see, we are like projectors. Only what a projector projects is seen on the screen, what we project is seen around us. So stay happy and always smile and then the world around you will do the same.”