{"id":44141,"date":"2021-06-18T14:50:09","date_gmt":"2021-06-18T21:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=44141"},"modified":"2021-06-18T14:50:09","modified_gmt":"2021-06-18T21:50:09","slug":"friday-you-might-want-to-keep-a-tissue-handy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2021\/06\/18\/friday-you-might-want-to-keep-a-tissue-handy\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday: You Might Want to Keep a Tissue Handy \u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Giant Hat Tip (H\/T) to Mitch<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Mitch was kind enough to email a heartwarming story of the type I’m sure we’ve all received.\u00a0 It seemed to hit every note just right and I thought it was worth sharing.\u00a0 But it also made me wonder if it was too good to be true.\u00a0 I didn’t want to post an apocryphal story disguised as an actual event.<\/p>\n

So I did some sleuthing.\u00a0 And it turns out not only is it true \u2013 but it was written by a Franciscan nun who was a schoolteacher!<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.snopes.com\/fact-check\/all-the-good-things\/<\/a><\/p>\n

This is a photo of Sister Helen Mrosla who taught at Saint Mary’s school in Morris, MN with Mark Eklund’s class.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

She first submitted her true story (which is a little more detailed than the email) to Proteus<\/em> magazine, which had requested inspirational stories from educators.\u00a0 And it was later published in Reader’s Digest<\/em>.\u00a0 Sister Mrosla has kindly given permission to reprint her story<\/a>, so without further ado here is Sister Mrosla …<\/p>\n

\u201dHe was in the first third grade class I taught at Saint Mary\u2019s School in Morris, Minn. All 34 of my students were dear to me, but Mark Eklund was one in a million. Very neat in appearance, but had that happy-to-be-alive attitude that made even his occasional mischievousness delightful.<\/p>\n

Mark talked incessantly. I had to remind him again and again that talking without permission was not acceptable. What impressed me so much, though, was his sincere response every time I had to correct him for misbehaving \u2013 \u201cThank you for correcting me, Sister!\u201d<\/em> I didn\u2019t know what to make of it at first, but before long I became accustomed to hearing it many times a day.<\/p>\n

One morning my patience was growing thin when Mark talked once too often, and then I made a novice teacher\u2019s mistake. I looked at Mark and said, “If you say one more word, I am going to tape your mouth shut!\u201d It wasn\u2019t ten seconds later when Chuck blurted out, \u201cMark is talking again.\u201d<\/p>\n

I hadn\u2019t asked any of the students to help me watch Mark, but since I had stated the punishment in front of the class, I had to act on it.<\/p>\n

I remember the scene as if it had occurred this morning. I walked to my desk, very deliberately opened my drawer and took out a roll of masking tape. Without saying a word, I proceeded to Mark\u2019s desk, tore off two pieces of tape and made a big X with them over his mouth.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I then returned to the front of the room. As I glanced at Mark to see how he was doing, he winked at me.\u00a0 That did it! I started laughing. The class cheered as I walked back to Mark\u2019s desk, removed the tape, and shrugged my shoulders. His first words were, \u201cThank you for correcting me, Sister.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end of the year, I was asked to teach junior-high math. The years flew by, and before I knew it Mark was in my classroom again. He was more handsome than ever and just as polite. Since he had to listen carefully to my instruction in the \u201cnew math,\u201d he did not talk as much in ninth grade as he had in third.<\/p>\n

One Friday, things just didn\u2019t feel right. We had worked hard on a new concept all week, and I sensed that the students were frowning, frustrated with themselves and edgy with one another. I had to stop this crankiness before it got out of hand. So I asked them to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name.<\/p>\n

Then I 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 me the papers. Charlie smiled. Mark said, \u201cThank you for teaching me, Sister. Have a good weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

That Saturday, I wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and I listed what everyone else had said about that individual.<\/p>\n

On Monday I gave each student his or her list. \u00a0Before long, entire class was smiling. Really?\u201d I heard whispered. \u201cI never knew that meant anything to anyone!\u201d I didn\u2019t know others liked me so much.\u201d No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. I never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn\u2019t matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another again.<\/p>\n

That group of students moved on. Several years later, after I returned from vacation, my parents met me at the airport. As we were driving home, Mother asked me the usual questions about the trip, the weather, my experiences in general.<\/p>\n

There was a lull in the conversation. Mother gave Dad a sideways glance and simply says, \u201cDad?\u201d My father cleared his throat as he usually did before something important. \u201cThe Eklunds called last night,\u201d he began \u201cReally?\u201d I said. \u201cI haven\u2019t heard from them in years. I wonder how Mark is.\u201d Dad responded quietly. \u201cMark was killed in Vietnam,\u201d he said. \u201cThe funeral is tomorrow, and his parents would like it if you could attend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

To this day I can still point to the exact spot on I-494 where Dad told me about Mark.<\/p>\n

I had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. Mark looked so handsome, so mature. All I could think at that moment was, \u201cMark, I would give all the masking tape in the world if only you would talk to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The church was packed with Mark\u2019s friends Chuck\u2019s sister sang \u201cThe Battle Hymn of the Republic.\u201d Why did it have to rain on the day of the funeral? It was difficult enough at the graveside. The pastor said the usual prayers, and the bugler played taps.<\/p>\n

One by one those who loved Mark took a last walk by the coffin and sprinkled it with holy water. I was the last one to bless the coffin. As I stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to me. Were you Mark\u2019s math teacher?\u201d he asked. I nodded as I continued to stare at the coffin. \u201cMark talked about you a lot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After the funeral, most of Mark\u2019s former classmates headed to Chuck\u2019s farmhouse for lunch. Mark\u2019s mother and father were there, obviously waiting for me. \u201cWe want to show you something, his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket. \u201cThey found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times.\u00a0 I knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which I had listed all the good things each of Mark\u2019s classmates had said about him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you so much for doing that,\u201d Mark\u2019s mother said. \u201cAs you can see, Mark treasured it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark\u2019s classmates started to gather around us.\u00a0 Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, \u201cI still have my list. I keep it in the top drawer of my desk at home.\u201d Chuck\u2019s wife said, \u201cChuck asked me to put his in our wedding album.\u201d I have mine too,\u201d Marilyn said. \u201cIt\u2019s in my diary.\u201d<\/p>\n

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,\u201d Vicki said without batting an eyelash. \u201cI think we all saved our lists.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when I finally sat down and cried. I cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we don\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

I would like to thank Mitch for emailing this heartwarming story, and Sister Mrosla for writing it and allowing it to be shared.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Giant Hat Tip (H\/T) to Mitch Mitch was kind enough to email a heartwarming story of the type I’m sure we’ve all received.\u00a0 It seemed to hit every note just right and I thought it was worth sharing.\u00a0 But it also made me wonder if it was too good to be true.\u00a0 I didn’t want […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4419,4418,4417,4422],"class_list":["post-44141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-soldiers","tag-students","tag-teachers","tag-vietnam-war","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44141\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}