Eleonora is a very cheerful and slightly careless girl. Since childhood, Eleonora has lived with her extended family in a big house. Eleonora lives in a family that has a uniqueness, namely that all of her descendants have one or two different special abilities. Every child who has reached the age of six will find out about the Gift by themselves.
This tradition has been passed down from Eleonora's mother's family. All of Eleonora's cousins, older siblings, aunts and mother have received their respective Gifts. Her mother can cure diseases just by eating her cooking. Eleonora's eldest sister, Anna, is very strong, beautiful, and tough so that she is often asked for help to lift heavy objects in her house. Then her second sister, Liana, is very beautiful and smart so that many men want to be with her. And don't forget her cousin. Her cousin named Eliza can hear any sound from a distance.
Now Eleonora is eleven years old but she has not received the Gift. She should have received the gift a few days after her sixth birthday. Seven days after her sixth birthday, Eleonora's family will definitely hold a ceremony where the child will hold the doorknob and if successful, the door will change and the contents of the room according to the gifts they each received. At first, Eleonora still couldn't believe that she didn't get a gift. She thought maybe she got it longer than the other members of her family, she also thought maybe some time after the ceremony Eleonora would get her gift. Finally, Eleonora began to accept herself that it was true that she didn't get the Gift. Unlike the other members of her family who had received their respective gifts. However, Eleonora's parents still supported her and never compared Eleonora even though she didn't get any Gifts. Eleonora's parents believed that this did not make their child less special than the others, Eleonora would still be special in the eyes of her parents. This event is very rare and has never happened before in Eleonora's family, so when the event happened and Eleonora's extended family found out that Eleonora did not get any Gift, their feelings were certainly mixed between confusion, sadness, shame, and disappointment. Moreover, their extended family was quite famous in the village where they lived, they were known as the Magical family because they all had their own gifts that could help the villagers around them. And something like this certainly could not be proud of by her family. This is where the problems started to come.
Every time Eleonora went out of the house, there would always be someone asking about Eleonora's gift and every time Eleonora said that she didn't get any gift, it became a topic of conversation among the locals, to the point that sometimes Eleonora felt less confident to leave the house. She was also often compared to her siblings by other members of the extended family, "Just try to be like your siblings, have your own gifts so you can help us all." Words like that were familiar to Eleonora's ears or even words like "Maybe you're not your mother's biological child, that's why you don't get any gifts at all!" Sentences that were really painful for Eleonora but because they were frequent, Eleonora became accustomed to hearing those words.
Eleonora began to feel ashamed that she didn't get gifts like other family members. Since she was often compared and belittled, she felt that the events that happened to her were a deficiency or limitation within herself. However, she still tried to help the people around her according to her abilities. Her grandmother also often said that every time Eleonora wanted to help do something, Eleonora was considered a "barrier". Even though Eleonora's intentions were good, she was actually underestimated because she did not receive a gift. Even though Eleonora loved to help people around her, entertain small children near her house, help parents cross the road and many more, it was as if Eleonora's extended family turned a blind eye and did not see that side of Eleonora, they only focused on Eleonora's shortcomings. But Eleonora still always tried her best to help.
Her parents also always reminded her "You don't need to prove yourself to anyone, son," but it seemed that Eleonora didn't care about those words, she always wanted to prove to people, especially her extended family, that she could also be like other family members who had their own gifts, she wanted to prove that she was also special like everyone else. Eleonora also secretly admired her older sister Liana, she wanted to be her beautiful and gentle older sister, with her smooth and shiny black hair.
One day, Eleonora's extended family wanted to hold a gift ceremony for Eleonora's younger cousin named Antonio. Antonio was Eleonora's closest cousin and on that day if the ceremony was carried out smoothly and successfully, Antonio would get his gift. Antonio was very nervous because of the pressure from the people around him who said "Antonio, you have to succeed, don't be like yesterday's ceremony. That disappointed many people." Said his uncle. The ceremony yesterday that Uncle meant was Eleonora's ceremony.
When Antonio was getting ready in his room with Eleonora. Antonio told Eleonora.
“I’m afraid this ceremony will fail too.” Antonio said to Eleonora.
Eleonora replied “It’s okay Antonio, don’t think too much about it. This ceremony will definitely be a success and you will definitely make many people proud, especially grandma.” Eleonora said to calm Antonio down with a smile.
Then Eleonora went out of the room to help the family prepare the equipment needed for the ceremony later, and to greet the guests who were starting to arrive.
There was a sacred candle that was very important for the ceremony and whoever held the candle must not let the flame go out. The candle was believed to have been passed down as a tradition in Eleonora’s family. Eleonora intended to help move the candle to the room where the ceremony would be held because she saw other family members were busy welcoming guests. When she wanted to lift the candle, she carried it carefully because she knew the consequences if the flame on the candle went out. When she walked towards the room where the ceremony would be held, suddenly Grandma shouted “HEH ELEONORA!!”. Eleonora was shocked and accidentally dropped the candle until the flame went out. Grandma immediately cursed at Eleonora. People started to crowd around.
“What are you doing?? You’re useless here!!”
“What can you do? Instead of helping, you ruin an important event”
“You always ruin events like this, you’re really useless!”
“You can’t do anything! You don’t have any talent at all, you can only trouble someone,”
Curses kept coming out of Grandma’s mouth. Grandma was like someone who was possessed by emotions. Eleonora’s position was just holding back her tears and apologizing over and over again. However, even though Eleonora was wrong, she felt Grandma had gone overboard. Finally Eleonora spoke up.
“Sorry Grandma. Sorry,”
Grandma was silent.
Finally, Grandma left the room, and Antonio was there who saw Eleonora holding back her tears, hugged Eleonora, tried to calm Eleonora down. Finally, the ceremony was canceled, or rather postponed. Eleonora also apologized to Antonio for having postponed her important day. Antonio said, "It's okay, sis."
For two days after the incident, Grandma didn't want to say a word to Eleonora. Until one day Eleonora came to Grandma and said.
"Grandma, I'm sorry about yesterday, I don't have any gifts, not like the others. But I always try to help you as much as possible, I'm sorry if it turns out like this. I want to be proud of you like my older siblings. But I will never be enough in Grandma's eyes because I don't have any gifts."
"I want to help you, I want to be useful, I want to be Grandma's special granddaughter too. I know I disappointed Grandma since the last ceremony where I didn't succeed in getting a gift, but I can't do anything about it. I'm sorry Grandma, I haven't been able to make Grandma proud." Eleonora said with tears in her eyes.
Grandma was silent and pondered Eleonora's words for a moment, unconsciously Grandma shed tears and said.
"Forgive Grandma, Eleonora. All this time I have made you feel ignored, forgive Grandma's words yesterday that must have hurt Eleonora's feelings. Grandma also certainly loves Eleonora like the other grandchildren. Forgive Grandma for not being able to accept your shortcomings. But now Grandma promises to accept all your shortcomings, and give equal attention to all the other grandchildren. Actually, unconsciously you are the one who helps unite our family, you are a beautiful and cheerful girl who can make people around you happy. That is your gift. Making people comfortable."
Grandma approached Eleonora. And immediately hugged her.
The message that can be taken from the story above is that everyone must have their own strengths and weaknesses. Let us not be inferior or feel ashamed of our shortcomings, until we have to compare ourselves with others and act like others. Be yourself because we all have our own uniqueness. We don't need to prove our identity to anyone and use criticism as motivation to become better.