Make A Difference
There is a story many years ago of an
elementary teacher. Her name was
Mrs. Thompson. And 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 has 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withdrawn and doesn't show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 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 Mom
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, M.D.
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."
