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 A FINAL THOUGHT
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| Well, it's time to go back to school. I hope all of my readers had an enjoyable summer, whether you were on vacation or not. My family and I were able to get away for a couple of weeks to the Pacific Northwest. We really enjoyed our time in Oregon and Washington. It was also great meeting Amanda's Mom & Step Dad. They are really nice people. This past month, I have been very hard at work at my job. Lot's of construction projects, combined with a lot of additions of computers, printers, and Promethium Boards. I would also like to welcome some new contributors to the Metro. Make sure to read my niece Megan's article about her summer vacation on our Dateline News page, and my niece Dana created a cartoon on our Phamily Phun page. Both of you ladies did an OUTSTANDING job, and I hope you, and others, keep submitting their work to me. It makes for a great publication. | | ..= | . | Question... Do kids really remember important things you teach them? I'm not talking about math equations, scientific theories, or quotes from authors, but I believe the truly important life lessons are lodged into a childs memory for life. These may be bad things that a child has to cope with through life, or it may be good things. I would like to share a story about one of the good things, as a teacher touches the lives of her students for life. |
| . | . | 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. | 
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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 Iraq 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.' | 
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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. Happy 'back to school' to my readers....
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