Too Busy for a 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 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 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 to keep in touch and cares for all your friends. If you do not do it, you will have, once again passed up the wonderful opportunity to do something nice and beautiful. But it's up to U to decide.
If you've realised 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 keep in touch and care for your friends, 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 that you care for, 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 You
4 comments:
Gooday n Howdy? What prompted me 2 send this is after reading de 2 posts by 2 ex St. Davidians n since im also 1 of them, guess its not wrong 4 me to write in 2.
Yes, i agree that u do practise favouritism especially 2wards de smarter and preferably prettier gals. U tend 2 favour de more outgoing students 2. U taught me 4 two years but im practically non-existent in class. Why??? Coz im plain, unsociable, quiet and not extremely intelligent though i still manage toscore an A1 in monthly tests and exams. Ive noticed how u will go 2 de cleverer ones (gals), u asked them whether they are coping well, Poor me! Hoping 2 get a word of encouragement but none until i left St. Davids! Shouldnt it be de other way round? Do u kno dat word hav sort of gone round that u prefer 2 chat n mingle around with gals. Im waiting 4 my STP n i find dat 2 years of F6 has really opened my horizon. I became critically aware of de many aspects of life. My f6 teachers do not practise favouritism at ALL! (thats why they r F6 educators i guess) During as recent outing, one of my juniors can smugly reveal to me how u defended her 4 something wrong which sh had done at de expense of another one. Omigosh! I hope its not true. This Junior who happened 2 be a distant relative is ady high handed u to be let off instead of being replimanded! What kind of adult will she turn into? Don get me wrong, i hav no right 2 pass judgement!
Anyway, i hope 2 be a tacher one day but sad 2 say, u will not be my role model.
Hope to get some inspiration from u by replying 2 this.
Well, as I expected, my post is inviting criticism from some of my students, but I didn’t expect it to be harsh and personal ‘attack’one. Dealing with hundred of students every year means im in high risk of getting criticism from people of various field, that’s why im very open minded in this aspect. I will always take criticism as one of the many challenges in my life !!.Actually i have a feeling that in my current school with such a big enrolment (more than 40 students per class),I realized that it’s very hard or to be more accurate im not able to fulfill the needs of every students from difference background n difference characters in my class, this is the fact which I have to admit as im only an ordinary tiny human being and because of this, I will turn the criticism toward me into a challenge to improve my professionalism in my career. Thanks
Clarification to one of your opinion:
It’s a fact that from 6 classes with a smaller enrolment compare to form 5 classes will definitely allow the teacher to have more personal attention on each individual in the class,so it's no fair to compare the rate of attention received from a 6th form teacher to a 5th form teacher, further more the professionalism of teaching does not lie on what form a teacher is teaching, we have the same qualification or maybe it’s possible that a 5th form or even a lower form teacher has a higher qualification than a 6th form teacher. It’s just a matter of opportunity and interest only…….
in fact..i should have ignored this kind of personal attack,it's a sort of backstabbing behaviour from a person who likes to hide him/her self from what he/she did !!..In fact,it was very much appreciated and respected the 2 ex-students who wrote their views on me without hiding their identity..they had shown their sincerity and responsible's behaviour on what they did !!..that's why i was very much appreciate and thankful for their comments..and finally i would like to make it clear here that i will not response or bother any further backstabbing notes from you by the name hungry_predator...thanks
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