DEAR ABBY: I am a girl in the fourth grade, and there are some mean people in my class. They’re always making fun of this girl from China.

When I see them teasing her, I want to be nice to her – but I’m afraid if I am nice to her, they will make fun of me.

I am one of the cool kids. Abby, please tell me if I should be her friend. – TRYING TO BE NICE IN PENNSYLVANIA

DEAR TRYING: You are an intelligent, compassionate girl. The time to be a friend is when somebody needs one, and your classmate certainly needs one now. One effective way to defuse this kind of harassment is to speak up and say that YOU don’t think what the bully is saying is funny.

Another way is to tell your parents, your teacher and the principal what is happening. That girl is being harassed because of her race – and it is against the law for it to be ignored. So don’t wait. Speak up now. I commend you for writing.

DEAR ABBY: I am a 38-year-old divorced mother of two boys, ages 12 and 14. My boyfriend, “Nat,” is divorced and has no children. We’ve been dating for three years. He is my best friend, and we get along great.

I am very much in love with Nat, but he says he will never marry again. I try dating other men, but they don’t measure up to Nat. It seems Nat could get along fine without me in his life. I don’t feel the same. Tell me, Abby, what’s his problem? – WAITING IN THE SOUTHWEST

DEAR WAITING: Nat doesn’t have a problem. You do. You have fallen in love with a man who has made it clear that he is unwilling to make a commitment to you and the boys. I give him credit for being honest with you.

DEAR ABBY: My co-worker’s 20-year-old son recently committed suicide. His mother was a single parent and the young man had long-standing emotional problems.

We are a department of about 20, and all her co-workers felt heartsick for her. All of us contributed toward the funeral spray.

When the funeral arrangements were finalized, the information was e-mailed to only about half of us. The rest – including me – were not invited. On the day of the funeral, the “invitees” came to work dressed in dark suits. It was very awkward.

While it is true that a grieving mother is justified in doing whatever makes her comfortable, I feel my feelings were not considered at all. I am deeply hurt that my gesture of sympathy was unappreciated. – SLIGHTED IN NEW JERSEY

DEAR SLIGHTED: Get over it. Your co-worker lost her child. You seem to feel that because you weren’t invited to the funeral you somehow lost face. A funeral is not a party. It’s also not a social gathering. Your grieving co-worker wanted those people to whom she felt closest around her when she buried her son. She does not deserve to be criticized for it.

CONFIDENTIAL TO “FEELING REVENGEFUL IN CLEVELAND”: In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday we remember today: “To retaliate in kind would do nothing but intensify the existence of hate in the universe. Along the way of life, someone must have sense enough, and morality enough, to cut off the chain of hate.”

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Write Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

To order “How to Write Letters for All Occasions,” send a business-sized, self-addressed envelope, plus check or money order for $5 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby – Letter Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447.

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