A Black Rose

*A retelling for children, based on **Portals to Freedom** by Howard Colby Ives.*

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There was once a man named Howard Colby Ives, and he spent some happy months following 'Abdu'l-Bahá around the city of New York. Wherever 'Abdu'l-Bahá went, people came hurrying to meet Him. They pressed close on the sidewalks, and He greeted each one in turn, looking right into their faces as if there were all the time in the world.

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One day, at the edge of one of those crowds, stood a young Black boy.

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He hung back a little. He was not sure he belonged there at all. In that country, in those days, there were unkind rules and unkind habits that told boys like him they did not matter — that they should stay at the back, stay quiet, and not expect to be noticed. So the boy waited at the edge, half expecting this important visitor to look right past him.

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But 'Abdu'l-Bahá saw him.

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Ives watched what happened next, and he never, ever forgot it. 'Abdu'l-Bahá raised His hand in a grand and welcoming way, the way you might welcome a prince. And then, in a voice loud enough for the whole crowd to hear — not a quiet whisper just for the boy, but a clear voice for everyone — He called the boy *a black rose.*

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A black rose. Think of how beautiful that is. A rose is something people treasure and lean down to smell and put in a place of honor. And He said it out loud, so that every single person standing there — including all the people who had been taught to look past such a boy — had to hear it too.

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It was not just a kind little compliment to make the boy feel better. It was something bigger. Right there in front of everyone, 'Abdu'l-Bahá was giving the boy the honor and the dignity that the world had been keeping from him every other day of his life.

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Ives wrote that being near 'Abdu'l-Bahá was like standing close to a warmth that poured out of Him and into everyone around. The honor He gave that one boy in the crowd was the very same honor He gave to everyone He met — because He saw each person the way God made them: precious, important, and beautiful.

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And here is the quiet lesson the boy learned that day, and that we can learn too. Every person is precious, and no one should ever be pushed to the edge or looked past. When you see someone the world is overlooking, you can do what 'Abdu'l-Bahá did: notice them, welcome them, and let them know — out loud — that they matter.

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*This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see ["Here Is a Black Rose: Howard Colby Ives Witnesses an Inversion"](/stories/pf-black-rose).*

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