No one remembers you making a fool of yourself.

　　When I was 12 years old, I went to secondary school in Ballinasloe. My house was on the other side of the river from Ballinasloe, far from school, and I could only go home once a weekend.

　　It was about the third weekend after secondary school when I packed up my dirty clothes and some homework books that needed to be reviewed and left school. It wasn't close from the school to the pier, but I didn't choose to take the bus because I liked the view on the road, there were lots of big trees with birds chirping on them and the walls along the road were covered with roses ...... I was admiring them as I walked forward, when suddenly I stepped on my foot and fell down heavily. I didn't feel much pain, I just felt a chill all over my body - oh my God, I fell into a mud puddle full of water.

　　I stood up and tried to wipe the wet mud off my body, but the more I wiped the wet mud, the more it grew, and they soon covered my hands, which in turn led me to unknowingly wipe the wet mud all over my face. I tried to find some water to clean it, but there was none, so I had to keep going. Everyone I met would look at me, cover their mouths and laugh, and I seemed to become a comical little monster.

　　I wished I could go to the river to clean myself, but when I arrived at the dock, the ship gave its last whistle before leaving, and I didn't want to miss it, so I had to board the ship directly. As I ran onto the boat, everyone let out a harrumph of laughter. I didn't dare to enter the cabin, so I had to sit on the deck until I reached the other side of the river, and then I went to the river to wash the mud off my body. The mud was washed away, and my clothes were soaked through, and I could feel everyone laughing at me. I could only keep my head down and run home quickly.

　　When I saw my mother, she was surprised and asked me what was wrong, and my eyes burst into tears. "I fell into a mud pit in Ballinasloe and got covered in mud until I crossed the river and washed it off me. I made a big fool of myself and it felt like everyone in the world was laughing at me, and I didn't know how I was going to get back to school in Ballinasloe next Monday, and everyone on the road was sure to laugh at me." I cried.

　　"You take a shower and change your clothes, then I'll take you for a walk to Ballinasloe." While handing me clean clothes, my mother said, "You said that people all over the world are laughing at you, and I want to take you to see how many people are laughing at you."

　　This made me feel scared and I didn't want to go down that road again. My mother encouraged me again by saying, "Son, only when you find the answer will you be able to let go of the worries in your heart."

　　When I had bathed, my mother took me out: she instructed me not to say anything, but just to stand and watch her talk. After we got on the boat, my mother began to ask everyone: "Just now, did you see a boy covered with wet mud? Just as big as the boy next to me, have you seen it?"

　　Everyone shook their heads and said they hadn't seen it, and someone even asked with great concern if they needed to go to the police. We arrived in Ballinasloe and my mother asked the same thing to everyone on the way, but everyone said they hadn't noticed a boy covered in wet mud, and by the time we got to the mud pit that caused my fall, my mother had asked at least 100 people and not one of them knew about me, no one knew about the scandal I had made, and no one laughed at me.

　　"Son, you say that people all over the world are laughing at you, but did you see that people have never even seen a boy covered in wet mud, let alone laugh at you?" My mother encouraged me by saying, "You must remember that no matter what happens, don't torture yourself with your own speculations."

　　It turned out that no one in the world remembered that I had made a fool of myself. This gave me confidence, and on my way back to school the next week, I had absolutely no fear that someone would point and laugh at me and say, "Look, he's the boy who was covered in wet mud the other day."

　　I am very grateful to my mother for teaching me all this, otherwise I might not have had the courage to face everyone on the road.