I have seen this before, but it is just as meaningful each time a read it. Read and please pass it on. Pass it on the teacher that you know yells too much at their students. Ask your kids who the teachers who yell are in their school, they know! Everything we say and do our students read and pick up on and remember.
Read this and share it
The Friend List
Author Unknown
http://www.mrsciguy.com/teachstories.html#friend
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 the 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 Viet Nam 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.
