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 piece 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 ment 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.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

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 pocket,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 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.Please,tell them before it is too

late.

May Your Day Be Blessed

As Special

As You Are !