Never too busy for a friend

A really beautiful story i read in the chicken soup series.

NEVER 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. She told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down. It took the rest of the period to finish their assignment and as the students left the room, each one handed over their 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 whispers. “I never knew I meant that much to anyone!” and “I didn’t know others liked me so much” were some of the common comments. No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they discussed them after class with their parents, but it didn’t matter. The exercise had accomplished it’s purpose.

The students were happy with themselves and one another. In due course of time the 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 pall-bearer came up to her. “Were you Mark’s Math teacher?” he asked. She nodded, “Yes.” At this 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 till the end.”

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. It’s in my diary.” Marilyn said. Then Vicki, reached into her purse and showed her frazzled list to the group. “I carry this with me at all times.” Said Vicki 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 of his friends who would never see him again.

The density of people in the society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day and we don’t know when that day will be. So, tell the people you love and care for. Don’t hesitate to express that they are special and important. Tell them before it’s too late.