h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

After surfing the net i came up on this story..
This story realy touched my heart,im sure it will yours too..

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's
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
recognise 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.

that is such an amazing story thank you for sharing it may be if everybody did that the world would a nicer,better place




Jonathan

Yes it is amazeing, and so touching too,
Your right though it certainly makes you think and realise whats inportant.

sharing it was no problem,it seemed the right thing to do.

..Angel..

I read this already in Chicken Soup but still think its great or at least I think it was in the book Chicken Soup

Chelle

Where abouts on the net did you read this? I've read it on the net too!

Hi Sian. i cant remember now but isnt it a sad but good srory.

..Angel..

Brings a tear to my eye.

OPT.... It touches the heart though dont it??

<hope your well


HUSSASSAN Yeh me too,


..Angel..

that was g8t hunbrian

HI Brian

How you doing??

long time no chat..

..Angel..

Once again you seem to find the ones that tug on the old strings.

Mind you if i was to keep all the pieces of paper of things said nice (or is that nasty) about me, i would look like a paper mache man

No it was very sweet and thought provoking and have already forwarded on in email.

as always BN.xxx

Hello there

HAHAHA cant imagine you haveing any pieces of paper with any thing on it nice or not so nice lol unless they from your other half of course
dont tell me you still got all your letters from school from Donna hee hee

aaaaawwwwww im cruel arnt i?? well you know cant be nice to you can i?? lol even if i am lol
But i do know what you mean its a very touching one isnt it??

Well its 7:05 and im up been up since 6:15 feeling

Where you been hidding last few days then face ache??

Any way Im going to say bye for now.. OH By the way tell J i didnt feel like going out with her last night but realy wasnt up to it..

..Angel..
's

Angel it sure does touch the heart that is why I like it sooo much

OPT

You enjoying doing the big sis house??

Hi
thats a realy touching story!

jen

Hello Jen. yeh i know it realy touched my

Hope your well??

..Angel..

yep

When I go back to school, I might ask my religion teacher to do what the tacher in the story does.

Hello Angel,and thankyou for the post.Am sorry i have not been in touch with you until now,but i could not get onto the site due to a fault with Telewest having a national fault!But i truly hope that you have been keeping fine and well also sweet.As for me have been okay myself.Sincerely hope that i will hear from you soon.Takecare and best wishes,Sean.