I LOVE this story...

Today I got the story below in an email from my mom. Although I just LOVE this story, I'm sure she sent it to me because it involved a teacher and it really does sound like something I would have done with my class when I was teaching. She didn't know this, but many years after I had graduated from college when my boys were well into school, I went back to college to do further study in Psychology. During one of my classes, my prof asked us to write down 5 things about someone in the room and then tape the paper on the back of the person and then we were suppose to try and get that person to know what others thought about them. Well, I will never ever forget one of the things the young man who wrote my 'characteristics' wrote (I would NEVER have thought this about myself)... He wrote: "Sue has a very kind smile. I can tell she cares about others because she listens." If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that a couple of years ago I had to get dentures due to my extreme anemia that I had suffered with. Well, since I was a child, I've been aware how crooked my teeth were. I use to get teased a lot because of them. But being 'the strong one' I just learned to live with it and then when I started teaching preschoolers I learned an important lesson from them... whenever they use to say "Mrs Schaefer, why are your teeth falling out?" I would always tell them... "they aren't, this is how God made me... we're all different, and this is my way of being different" So, when the young man put that paper on my back, and everyone talked about my smile, it made me look at myself in a different way still... I thought most people only saw what's apparent (my crooked teeth) not my spirit. This story below reminds me of my own experience... it's so important that we do tell others... what we sow is truly what we reap....

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