At the beginning of the school year, the sixth grade classroom teacher stood in front of her former fifth-graders. She scanned all the children and said that she loved them all equally and loved to see them. It was a big lie, because in one of the front benches sat a huddled boy whom the teacher did not like.

She met him, as well as all her students, last school year. Right then, she noticed that she was not playing with her classmates, her clothes were dirty, and she felt like she hadn't washed in a long time. Over time, the teacher's relationship with this student grew worse, and it went so far that she preferred to cross out all his work with a red pencil and write him fives.

Once, the deputy headmaster asked for an analysis of the opinions of all pupils from the beginning of their schooling. The teacher kept the file of this unpopular student until the end. And when she finally reached him and reluctantly began to read testimonials on him, she was amazed.

The teacher who led the boy in the first grade wrote : “He is a beautiful child with a bright smile. He does his homework accurately and cleanly. It's just a pleasure to be with him. "

In the second grade, the teacher wrote about him: "An excellent student, whom his friends respect, but he has problems in the family: his mother suffers from an incurable disease and his home life is probably just a struggle with death."

The teacher in the third grade stated : “The death of the mother hit the boy very hard. He tries his best, but his father shows no interest in him, and if there is no change, his life will soon be reflected in learning. "

In the fourth grade, the teacher wrote: "The boy does not fulfill his duties, he is not interested in learning, he has practically no friends, he often falls asleep directly in the classroom."

When the teacher finished reading the testimonials, she was very ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when all the children brought her presents wrapped in shiny gift paper with ribbons for Christmas. The gift from her unpopular student was wrapped in thick brown paper. Some of the children began to laugh when the teacher removed a bracelet from the crouched package, which lacked some stones and a bottle of perfume only a quarter full. However, the teacher stopped laughing in class when she shouted, "That's a beautiful bracelet!" She opened a bottle of perfume and sprayed a few drops on her wrist. That day, after school, the boy stayed in class, came to the teacher, and told her, "Today you smell like my mother smelled." After he left, the teacher cried for a long time. After a while, the unpopular student began to return to life. By the end of the school year, he was one of the best.

A year later, when she was already working with other children, she found an envelope under the door of the class, where this student wrote her that she was the best teacher who had ever taught him.

It was another five years before she received another letter from her former student. He wrote that he had finished high school as the third best student in the class and that she was still the best teacher he had ever known.

After another four years, the teacher received a letter in which her student wrote that, despite all the difficulties, she would soon finish the university with the best evaluation and reaffirmed that she was still the best teacher of his life.

Another letter arrived four years later. This time, the former student wrote to her that when he graduated from university, he decided to further increase his level of education. This time in front of his name was the title of "doctor". He also wrote to her in this letter that she was the best teacher he had ever had.

Time went. He wrote to her in a letter that he had met the girl he wanted to marry. His father died two years ago, and he would like to ask if she would accept the place at his wedding that usually belongs to the groom's mother. Of course, the teacher agreed.

On her student's wedding day, the teacher took the bracelet with the missing stones and bought a perfume that reminded the unhappy boy of his mother. They greeted each other, hugged, and the young man smelled the familiar scent.

"Thank you for believing in me, thank you for letting me know that someone needs me, that I mean something, that you have taught me to believe in your strength and to distinguish good from bad."

The teacher replied with tears in his eyes, "You're wrong, you taught me everything. Until I met you, I couldn't learn at all. "

Translated by Google