Look for the nice things about people you know

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.

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 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 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.'

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  hat 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.

And One Way To Accomplish This Is.... Forward this message on. If you do not send it, you will have, once again passed up the wonderful opportunity to do something nice and beautiful.

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?

The more people that  you send this to, the better you'll be at reaching out to those you care about.

Remember, you reap what you sow. What you put into the lives of others comes back into your own.