Who's the teacher?
�
Her name was Mrs. Thompson.�
As she stood in front of her 5th grade
class on
the very first day of school, she told the children
a lie.
�
Like most teachers, she looked at her students and
said that
She loved them all the same.�
But that was impossible, because there in the front
row,
slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy
Stoddard.
�
Mrs.Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and
noticed
that he didn't play well with the other children,
that his clothes were messy and
that he constantly needed a bath.� And Teddy could be unpleasant.
�
It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would
actually take
delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen,
making bold X's and then putting a big
"F" at the top of his papers.
�
At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was
required to
review each child's past records and she put
Teddy's off until last.
However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for
a surprise.
Teddy's first grade teacher wrote,
"Teddy is a bright child with a ready
laugh.�
He does his work neatly
and has good manners...he is a joy to be
around."
�
His second grade teacher wrote,
"Teddy is an excellent student,
well liked by his classmates,
but he is troubled because his mother has a
terminal illness
and life at home must be a struggle."
�
His third grade teacher wrote,
"His mother's death had been hard on him.
He tries to do his best,
but his father doesn't show much interest
�
and his home life will soon affect him if some
steps aren't taken."
�
Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote,
"Teddy is withdrawn and
doesn't show much interest in school.�
he doesn't have many friends and
he sometimes sleeps in class."
�
By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and
she was ashamed of herself.
She felt even worse when her students brought her
Christmas presents,
wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper,
except for Teddy's.
His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy,
brown paper that he got from a grocery bag.�
Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the
�middle of
the other presents.�
Some of the children started to laugh when
she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the
stones missing,
and a bottle that was one quarter-full of perfume.
But she stifled the children's laughter when she
�� exclaimed
how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on,
and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist.
Teddy Stoddard stayed after school
that day just long enough to say,
"Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my
Mother used to."
�
After the children left she cried for at least an
hour.�
On that very day,
she quit teaching reading, and writing, and
arithmetic.
Instead, she began to teach children.
�Mrs.Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy.
As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come
alive.
The more she encouraged him, the faster he
responded.�
By the end of the year,
Teddy had become one of the smartest children in
the class and,
�despite her
lie that she would love all the children the same,
Teddy became one of her "teacher's pets."
�
�� A year
later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy,
�telling her
that
she was still the best teacher he ever had in his
whole life.
�
Six years went by before she got another note from
Teddy.�
He then wrote that he had
finished high school, third in his class, and she
was still
the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.
�
Four years after that, she got another letter,
saying that
while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed
in school,
had stuck with it,
�and would
soon graduate from college with
the highest of honors.� He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was
still the best and favorite teacher he ever had in
his whole life.
�
Then four more years passed and
�yet another
letter came. This time he
explained that after he got his bachelor's degree,
he decided to go a little further.�
The letter explained that she was
� still the
best and favorite teacher he ever had.�
But now his name was a little longer -- the letter
was signed,
Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.
�
The story doesn't end there.
�
You see, there was yet another letter that spring.
�Teddy said
he'd met this girl and was going to be married.
He explained that his father had died a couple of
years ago and
�he was
wondering if Mrs. Thompson
might agree to sit
in the place at the wedding that was usually reserved
for the
mother of the groom.
�Of course,
Mrs. Thompson did.� And guess what?
�
She wore that bracelet, the one with several
rhinestones missing.
And she made sure she was wearing the perfume that
Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas
together.
They hugged each other, and
Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear,
�"Thank
you, Mrs. Thompson
for believing in me.
Thank you so much for making me feel important and
showing me that I could make a difference."
�
Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered
back.
�She said,
"Teddy, you have it all wrong.
You were the one who taught me that I
could make a difference.�
I didn't know how to teach until I met you."
�
�
Please remember that wherever you go, and whatever you do,
You will have the
opportunity to touch and/or change a person's outlook please
try to do it in a positive way.
�
�
"Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings
have trouble remembering how to fly."
�
�
�
