See Also:
Beginning of a FAMOUS Hero: The Will Rogers Story.
Life Lesson #59 – Be an Encourager.
Mr. Delaney looked up from his desk just in time to see a boy in the back of his classroom making fun of a girl next to him who was not able to hear very well. “I think it’s time for a story,” said Mr. Delaney. And he was famous for his storytelling. This, is one of his true stories: “Years ago,” he began, “I was about to have dinner in a cafeteria type restaurant—not too much different from our school cafeteria except the food was a lot more expensive.” Everyone smiled, and Mr. Delaney continued. He said, “I noticed the lady who was HELPING to serve my wife was not getting her order right. Finally, my wife just pointed to what she wanted, and things began to work out.
“Well,” he said, “I was going to make sure she got my order right, so I started saying very loudly that I would use small words and speak slowly so I would be understood. Then, the restaurant manager said to me, ‘Sir, she can’t hear what you’re saying because she is deaf. Please just point to what you want.’”
Just then, a girl in the front row said, “Mr. Delaney, were you trying to hurt her?!” “Yes, Lauren, I suppose I was. I was actually trying to hurt that lady’s feelings, not even knowing that she couldn’t hear me. But, you know, I learned something about myself that day, and I have never been cruel to anyone since.”
Throughout all of the story telling and questions, Mr. Delaney kept watching that boy in the back of the room and could tell that he was learning something about himself, too. Sure enough he was. He decided right then and there that he would stop trying to hurt people with his words and his teasing. But he went even further, because being in Mr. Delaney’s class, he had heard a lot about people who HELP and people who hurt. He decided right then and there to start HELPING others instead of hurting them.
– Jim Lord