|
One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of
the other students in the room on two sheets of paper,
leaving a space between each name.
Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could
say about each of their classmates and write it down.
It took the remainder of the class period to finish their
assignment, and as the students left the room, each one
handed in the papers.
That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each
student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what
everyone else had said about that individual.
On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before
long, the entire class was smiling. "Really?" she heard
whispered. "I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!"
and, "I didn't know others liked me so much," were most of
the comments.
No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never
knew if they discussed them after class or with their
parents, but it didn't matter.
The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were
happy with themselves and one another.
That group of students moved on. Several years later, one of
the students was killed in Vietnam and his teacher attended
the funeral of that special student.
She had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before.
He looked so handsome, so mature.
The church was packed with his friends. One by one those who
loved him took a last walk by the coffin.
The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin. As she
stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer
came up to her.
"Were you Mark's math teacher?" he asked. She nodded: "yes."
Then he said: "Mark talked about you a lot."
After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates went
together to a luncheon. Mark's mother and father were there,
obviously waiting to speak with his teacher.
"We want to show you something," his father said, taking a
wallet out of his pocket. "They found this on Mark when he
was killed. We thought you might recognize it."
Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces
of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and
refolded many times.
The teacher knew without looking that the papers were the
ones on which she had listed all the good things each of
Mark's classmates had said about him.
"Thank you so much for doing that," Mark's mother said. "As
you can see, Mark treasured it."
All of Mark's former class mates started to gather around.
Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, "I still have my
list. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home."
Chuck's wife said, "Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding
album."
"I have mine too," Marilyn said. "It's in my diary."
Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook,
took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to
the group. "I carry this with me at all times, " Vicki said
and without batting an eyelash, she continued: "I think we
all saved our lists."
That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried.
She cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never
see him again.
|
|
|
The density of people in society is so thick that we forget
that life will end one day. And we don't know when that one
day will be.
So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they
are special and important. Tell them, before it is too
late...
Remember, you reap what you sow, what you put into the lives
of others comes back into your own.
MAY YOUR DAY BE AS SPECIAL
AS YOU ARE. ~ Unknown |
