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Sample passages
Un-Thanked People
When William Stidger taught at Boston University, he once reflected upon the great number of un-thanked people in his life. Those who had helped nurture him, inspire him or who cared enough about him to leave a lasting impression.
One was a schoolteacher he’d not heard of in many years. But he remembered that she had gone out of her way to put a love of verse in him, and Will had loved poetry all his life. He wrote a letter of thanks to her.
The reply he received, written in the feeble scrawl of the aged, began, “My dear Willie.” He was delighted. Now over 50, bald and a professor, he didn’t think there was a person left in the world who would call him “Willie.” Here is that letter:
"My dear Willie,
I cannot tell you how much your note meant to me. I am in my eighties, living alone in a small room, cooking my own meals, lonely and, like the last leaf of autumn, lingering behind. You will be interested to know that I taught school for 50 years and yours is the first note of appreciation I ever received. It came on a blue-cold morning and it cheered me as nothing has in many years."
Not prone to cry easily, Will wept over that note. She was one of the great un-thanked people from Will’s past. You know them. We all do. The teacher who made a difference. That coach we’ll never forget. The music instructor or Sunday school worker who helped us to believe in ourselves. That scout leader who cared.
We all remember people who shaped our lives in various ways. People whose influence changed us. Will Stidger found a way to show his appreciation -- he wrote them letters.
Who are some of the un-thanked people from your past? It may not be too late to say, "Thanks."
Take the Plunge
“Watch me dive off the high board, Dad,” my ten-year-old son called out. I looked up to the ten-foot-high diving board and waited as he stood at the edge, stooped over, arms extended. He had jumped off the high board many times before, but now his nerve seemed to falter as he contemplated streaking through the air headfirst.
The swimming pool was vacated, so he could take his time. “You can do it, Robby,” I encouraged. But he couldn’t. Not that evening. For 20 minutes he attempted to muster the courage to make the plunge, and he finally gave up when the pool closed for the night.
“I feel disappointed in myself,” Robby said on the way home. “I feel terrible. I know I can do it, though. I know I can.”
He persuaded me to take him swimming again the next evening. Like the night before, we happened to be the only swimmers. “I’m going to do it this time,” he said emphatically. “Watch me!”
He climbed the ladder and walked to the end of the board as I watched. Again I encouraged him. Again he hesitated. As the previous night, his nerve failed. It seemed that he would never conquer his fear and leap.
The lifeguards on duty helped me cheer him on. “You can do it, Robby,” we all exhorted. “Just do it! Don’t think about it. Just do it!”
For 30 minutes we encouraged him. For 30 minutes he started and stopped, he leaned and straightened and fought the fear that held him back.
And then it happened. He extended his arms, bent over the edge and fell headfirst into the water! He emerged to the sounds of laughter and congratulations. He did it! He finally did it! And before he went home, he did it three more times.
Robby learned something about facing his fear that evening. But he learned something else, too. He learned that some things can’t be done with less than full commitment. A chasm cannot be leaped in two small jumps and a dive cannot be made a little at a time. Sometimes you just have to do it.
Some things require no less than full commitment. What is requiring your full commitment? Will you take the plunge?
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