Too Busy for a Friend?

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.

 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 her 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.