As The Mirror reported, a former teacher recently decided to share his story because it even brought him to tears and proves just how far a little act of kindness can go.
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A small act of kindness
On a normal day at school, everything changed for a young girl. She used to suffer from anxiety when she was in middle school and barely said a word. She very much kept herself to herself and used to write in her diary every day during school time. One day, one of her teachers decided to take a peek over the girl’s shoulder and got a glimpse of what she was writing.
What he read affected him deeply.
‘I suck. I’m ugly. I’m stupid. No one likes me. I hate me. Etc.’
Without giving it a second thought, the teacher snatched the book from the girl and started writing in it himself:
‘You’re great, you’re beautiful, you’re intelligent, you’re loved.’
Neither of the two spoke about the incident at the time, but instead just left it at that. However, he then started noticing little differences in her behaviour. The girl started opening up to him more, speaking more in class and, most importantly, started to come out of her shell.
An encounter that warmed his heart
Fast forward a few years, this former teacher has since left his job in order to serve in the Navy. He happened to strike up a conversation with a woman who was also working in the Navy and realised they came from the same area. As fate would have it, the two realised through their conversation that the woman was actually the cousin of the student who he had given this little, friendly nudge in the right direction years before.
After he learned from his colleague that, even now as an adult, the girl still looks back on his words when she isn’t doing so great, he was moved to tears.
‘No freaking way. It is you. She still has that notebook. She looks at it from time to time to get her through the tough times.’
Reactions on social media have been consistently positive and really go a long way in showing just how important having teachers like this in schools can be for the students.
'We need more teachers, and people, like you. Thank you for being the person you are,’ wrote one user on social media while another wrote: ‘Teachers invest in our futures in more ways than just schooling - well done you.'
