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Subject: [Fwd: Class of '53 Newsletter - - Too Busy to Be a Friend]

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     When I received this and read it, it brought a smile and tear to my
eyes. It
      only takes a minute to read -  enjoy and think of The Class of '53
who are still with us.
     Tippy

     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.

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 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.

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?

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the

world will know peace." ~ Jimi Hendrix

May God bless and protect you, the USA, and help you to make wise

decisions.