One day Maths 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 'Kargil' war and his
teacher attended the funeral of that special student. She had never
attended Funeral of a serviceman before. He looked so handsome, so mature.
The
place was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took
a last walk. The teacher was the last one to bless .
As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to her. 'Were you Sanjay's math teacher?' he asked. She nodded: 'yes.' Then he said: 'Sanjay talked about you a lot.'
After
the funeral, most of Sanjay's former classmates were there. Sanjay'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 Sanjay 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 Sanjay's classmates had said
about him.
'Thank you so much for doing that,' Sanjay's mother said. 'As you can see, Sanjay treasured it.'
All
of Sanjay's former classmates started to gather around. Arjun smiled
rather sheepishly and said, 'I still have my list. It's in the top
drawer of my desk at home.'
Prithwiraj's wife said, ' Prithwiraj asked me to put his in our wedding album.'
'I have mine too,' Rashmi said. 'It's in my diary'
Then Deepali, 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,' Deepali 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 Sanjay 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.
If
you've received 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 forward this
message on, would this be the VERY first time you didn't do that little
thing that would make a difference in your relationships?
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
