See Also:
Beginning of a FAMOUS Hero: The Barbara Bush Story.
Life Lesson #59 – Be an Encourager.
When she was in the first grade, Francine could read better than anybody else in the class. In fact, she could read better than the 4th graders when she was in the first grade! She had a natural talent for being able to read well, but she knew that just having the talent wasn’t enough. She worked hard—every day—to learn bigger words, to read long sentences more smoothly, and to read thicker books.
All of the kids in Francine’s first grade class were learning to read—some better than others— except for one boy. He couldn’t read at all. When Mrs. Williams would call on him to read aloud, he just had to sit there. He couldn’t do anything, and it was almost like he could feel the others looking at him. He was so embarrassed, and that was bad enough but things got a whole lot worse. You see, there were some kids in the class who would laugh at him and tease him and even call him names—all because he couldn’t read. It got so bad that he didn’t even want to try anymore. Well, Francine decided to do something about it.
After school one day, while she was waiting for her parents to pick her up, she sat down beside the boy who couldn’t read. She offered to HELP him, and that’s exactly what she did. Soon the boy learned he really could read when someone showed him how! Francine HELPED him everyday for a long time, and by the end of the school year, he had become the second best reader in the class!
Think about this. Earlier that school year, since Francine was such a good reader and the boy could not read at all, she could have chosen to treat him horribly, like some of the others were doing! But she chose to HELP instead of to hurt. Francine CHOSE to become a HERO.
– Jim Lord