About Me
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 inVietNam 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 classmates
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.And One Way To Accomplish This Is:
Forward this message on. If you do not send it, you will have, once again
passed up the wonderful opportunity to do something nice and beautiful.If you've received this, it is
because someone cares for you and it means there is probably at least someone
for whom you care.If you're 'too busy' to take those
few minutes right now to forward this message on, would this be the VERY first
time you didn't do that little thing that would make a difference in your
relationships?The more people you send this to,
the better you'll be at reaching out to those you care about.Remember, you reap what you sow.
What you put into the lives of others comes back into your own.May Your Day Be Blessed As Special
As Youa>
