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Teddy!

As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children an untruth. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same.

However, that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he did not play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath In addition, Teddy could be unpleasant.

It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big 'F' at the top of his papers.

At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's past records and she put Teddy's off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise.

Teddy's first grade teacher wrote, 'Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners... he is a joy to be around..'

His second grade teacher wrote, 'Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle.'

His third grade teacher wrote, 'His mother's death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn't show much interest, and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken.'

Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, 'Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class.'

By now, Mrs. Thompson realised the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy's.

His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag. Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarter full of perfume.

But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, 'Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to.'

After the children left, she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching reading, writing and arithmetic.

Instead, she began to teach children.

Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her 'teacher's pets',

A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in life.

Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honours. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favourite teacher he had ever had in his whole life.

Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favourite teacher he ever had.

But now his name was a little longer...

The letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD. The story does not end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he had met this girl and was going to be married.

He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit at the wedding in the place that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom.

Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what?

She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. Moreover, she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together.

They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear, 'Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me.

Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference.'

Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, 'Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you.'

(For you that don't know, Teddy Stoddard is the Doctor at Iowa Methodist in Des Moines that has the Stoddard Cancer Wing.)

Just try to make a difference in someone's life today? tomorrow? just 'do it'. Random acts of kindness, I think they call it! 'Believe in Angels, then return the favour'

"There's a miracle called friendship that dwells within the heart, and you don't know how it happens or how it gets its start. But happiness it brings you always gives you a special lift. And you realise that friendship is God's most precious gift!" [B.J. Morbitzer]

"Understand fear and having the right mental attitude will help you overcome fear and enable you to be successful and succeed"

"Sport has the power to inspire and unite people" [Nelson Mandela]

"Somewhere there is someone who dreams of your smile. Someone who finds your presence worth while. So when you are lonely remember this-- That there is someone, somewhere...Thinking of you" (Source Unknown)

"A friend is someone we turn to when our spirits need a lift.
A friend is someone we treasure for our friendship is a gift.
A friend is someone who fills our lives with beauty, joy and grace.
And makes the world we live in a better and happier place.
There is a miracle called friendship, that dwells in the heart.
You do not know how it happens or when it gets it's start.
But you know the special lift it always brings.
You realise that friendship is the world's most precious gift!"

"If you are meant to be together nothing will get in the way"

"Aim, believe, achieve. Everyone has something to give"

"May there always be work for your hands to do; may your purse always hold a coin or two; may the sun always shine on your windowpane; may a rainbow be certain to follow each rain; may the hand of a friend always be near you; may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you." (Source Unknown)

"Believe in yourself, know what you want, and make it happen!" (Source Unknown)

"I'll be you friend until the end no matter what. I'll be here when you need to shed a tear. Or just to talk    I'll always remember you and I'll call just to say hi as much as I can Love you always, your friend ... "

"I wish for you. Comfort on difficult days, smiles when sadness intrudes. Rainbows to follow the clouds, laughter to touch your lips. Sunsets to warm your heart, gentle hugs when spirits sag. Friendship to brighten your being, beauty for your eyes to see. Confidence for when you doubt, faith so that you can believe. Courage to know yourself, patience to accept the truth. I wish you love on this day and every day. I hope you have a great day, my friend"

"You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it" [Margaret Thatcher]

"Begin yesterday, tomorrow you'll be ready for today"

"Do the best last, the worst first"

"One who respects others will be respected"

"Your brain is shrinking when others do your thinking"

"Lead, follow or get out of the way. Keeping your best foot forward and do not step on your toes"

"Ideas don't work, unless you do"

"Anger gets you into trouble, pride keeps you there"

"Champions keep playing until they get it right" [Billie Jean King]

"Sometimes you have to follow your heart no matter where it takes you, leads you"

"Whatever you do in life, do it better than the last time"

"You never know when you're making a memory" [Rickie Lee Jones]

"Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage" [Robert Louis Stevenson]

"Goals are dreams with deadlines" [Diana Scharf Hunt]

"It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers" [James Thurber]

"Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently" [Henry Ford]

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on" [Winston Churchill]

"The world we leave is full of wrong. The world we go to is pure, warm, kind and loving...Do not be scared to enter the Kingdom of God"

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are" [Theodore Roosevelt]

"What you think, I cannot change, what I do I can change"

"Then I saw a new Heaven and a new earth; for the first Heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more"

"Life is a foreign language all men mispronounce it" [C. Morley]

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends" [Martin Luther King, jnr]

"Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you"

"The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children" [Dietrich Bonhoeffer]

"He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy"

"The truth is more important than the facts" [Frank Lloyd Wright]

"Do you know that I love you very much and I will always be with you, like you will be with me. In my heart forever?"

"When a person dies, they move on to a more wondrous and exciting place, a place of such beauty. They will be with you now, forever without limitations and they are still with you and waiting for you. They have no limitations now. They will be with all their loved ones all the time, the human soul has no limitations and boundaries like the human body does and this time apart is only temporary, they, like you will never forget"

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach, when feeling out of sight, for the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day's most quiet need, by sun and candlelight. I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use in my old griefs, and with childhood's faith. I love with a love I seemed to lose, with my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, smiles, tears of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall love thee better after death"

"God is like a parent, a special one. He always watches you and guides you and keeps you safe. But still lets you learn your own mistakes and will not tell you off but listens to you and helps you. God helps but does not punish and He offers unconditional love to all"

"Set your faces towards unity and let radiance of it's light shine upon you"

"If you believe enough in your heart, even the improbable is probable"

"Demand the best. Be the best. Excellence as standard. On the journey to performance sustainability"

"Inspiring potential, realising dreams, excellence is habit. Making life ... better and leaving a living legacy"

Football: 'It's not a part of life it is life. Football is in our DNA"

Football: "Life is just a place we spend between games"

"When you went away my heart broke, but then it healed and smiled because I had known you and you granted only happy thoughts"

"Sometimes you have to believe what is in your heart. You cannot see it or touch it but you must believe in it"

"A successful life is one that is lived through understanding and pursuing one's own path, not chasing after the dreams of others"

"Laugh when you can. Apologise when you should. And let go of what you can't change. Love deeply, forgive quickly. Smile when you're sad and love what you have got. People change and things go wrong, but always remember life goes on. Have a wonderful life, make the most of it"

"They don't want it to be easy, they want it to be right"

"May happiness and peace and joy and good cheer fill each and every minute of your Christmas now that it's here. To make the season really perfect so that when its past and gone, hope the joy it brought you will still go on and on!"

"Life's an experience. It's up to you what kind. Live your passion, let friendship shine. Through vision, concept and legacy anything is possible. Anything you want, go out and achieve it"

"To dare, is to do"

"Dream as if you'll live forever and live as if you'll die today"

"But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best" [Marilyn Monroe]

"If your dog thinks you're the best you don't need a second opinion"

"Lift up your voice and your spirit. Giving thanks to Jesus Christ and God for giving you guidance in life"

"He is the vision for which there is no greater truth. He is the wealth for which no other exceeds. And he is the gift of all promises"

"A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business" [Henry Ford]

"A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world" [Louis Pasteur]

"The best time to expand is when no one else dares to take risks" [Andrew Carnegie]

"Those who hurt others will also hurt themselves" [Natsuki Takaya]

"A king word is like a spring day" [Russian Proverb]

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace" [Jimi Hendrix]

"The earth we all share is not just a rock tossed through space but a living, nurturing being. She cares for us" [Michael Jackson]

"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion" [Dalai Lama]

"Success is never final. Failure is never fatal. It is courage that counts" [Winston Churchill]

"Nature does nothing uselessly" [Aristole]

"It's the friends you can call at 1am that matter!"

"Today, I will stop and smell the daises"

"I love you for your caring ways for the joy and laughter we share. You bring beauty to my life, just by being there"

"When they placed you in my arms, you slipped into my heart"

"From God's heart came a friend like you"

"Happiness is not perfect until it's shared"

"Find the joy in your life, before you have to close your eyes"

"Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live"

"Aim not for what you are, but for what you could be" [Lucas Hellmer]

"If you're not making mistakes, you're not trying hard enough"

"Continuous effort, not strength of intelligence is the key to unlocking our potential" [Winston Churchill]

"To love someone who does not love you, is like shaking a tree to make the few dewdrops fall"

"In the long run, men only hit what they aim at. Therefore, they had better aim at something high" [Henry David Thoreau]

"Tell them 'I love you' it will make the difference"

"Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out"

"Energy and persistence conquer all things" [Benjamin Franklin]

"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree" [Martin Luther King]

"I express to pass through the world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it for I shall not pass this way again" [Stephen Grellet]

"Doing something kind takes a moment but can lead to such a difference. Who knows what one ripple in the pond can bring"

"Don't give up on your dreams, never give up on your dreams. Get what you want out of life, believe in yourself and others will believe in you"

"Friendship isn't about whom you've known the longest. It's about who came, and never left your side"

"Most of the time we don't communicate, we just take turns talking"

"We are not makers of history, we are made by history [Martin Luther King jnr]

"Genius produces great ideas and concepts. Hard work produces the results" [Zig Ziglar]

"The most wasted of all days is one without laughter" [E. E. Cummings]

"Success is simple. Do what's right, the right way, at the right time" [Arnold H. Glasow]

"Sometimes you have to take a step back, to see the way forward"

"I've got one idea I want to do for a film and you know I just enjoy myself doing bits and pieces" [Sir Norman Wisdom]

"Every day you spend without a smile is a lost day"

"Without the dark, you would never see the stars"

"When you go home. Tell them of us and say 'For your tomorrows, we gave our today'"

"A strong mind, starts with a fit body"

"Pain is temporary, glory is forever"

"If you believe enough you will fly ... you will fly, higher than an eagle"

"Destiny it guides us all. And by it we rise or fall, but only for a moment until we catch our breath and start again"

"I am inspired by God, to do and be the best I can"

"If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours"

"I always believed that love was fairly uncomplicated. You found the perfect woman, gorgeous but practical. You married, settled down with children, car, mortgage and lived quietly, predictively happily ever after. This is my dream"

"Choose hope, over fear"

"Did you just smile at me? Or did the sun just come out?"

"Never regret something that once made you smile"

"If you can't accept me at my worst, then you don't deserve me at my best!"

"To accept others around you, you have to accept yourself first"

"Life is relationships, the rest is just details" [Gary Smalley]

"When you love someone everything else is secondary. No matter what, everything. Material things mean nothing without someone special to share life with"

"There are no secrets to success. It is the results of preparation, hard work and learning from failures"

"Take the challenge never hide, wear your shirt with honour and pride"

"Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion"

"Football is not a matter of life or death. It's much more important than that" [Bill Shankly]

"When a father gives to his son, both laugh. When a son gives to his father, both cry" [William Shakespeare]

"To be pretty on the outside you must live and breathe pretty on the inside"

"When I saw your smile I knew that it was something that I wanted to see everyday for the rest of my life"

"I love you and because I love you, I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies"

"The happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything"

"Make the best of time now! Time doesn't stop, you cannot get it back so make the most of now"

"Never say 'Goodbye', there are never any 'Goodbyes' just 'See you soons'. There's always a place for you on my ride"

"You have to sleep to experienced and enjoy a brand new dawn"

"Just because you talk a lot doesn't mean you have good communication skills. Talk less, listen more"

"Don't say you love me unless you really mean it, because I might do something crazy like believe it"

"Don't fight negative energy, redirect it towards positive energy"

"Consider this ... if you had a magic wand for your life, what would you wish for? what would your life look like? Then think ... what is stopping you achieving that dream that goal? So go on wave that wand today and make a difference in your life!"

"If you don't know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere" [Henry A. Kissinger]

"Sometimes the girl who has always been there for everyone else, needs someone to be there for her"

"Only dream the dream of the dreams worth realising. Or forever hold doubt and forgiveness in your heart. Dreams are for living"

"A heart broken is like the shards of a shattered glass. It can never be pieced together again. Never. Eternally broken"

"Each success only buys an admission ticket to a more difficult problem" [Henry A. Kissinger]

"A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing occasionally to stand alone" [Henry A. Kissinger]

"What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow. Our life is the creation of our mind"

"A leader does not deserve the name unless he is willing to occasionally to stand alone" [Henry A Kissinger]

"Accept everything about yourself - I mean everything. You are you and that is the beginning and the end - no apologies, no regrets" [Henry A Kissinger]

"If you don't know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere" [Henry A Kissinger]

"Leaders must invoke an alchemy of great vision" [Henry A Kissinger]

"When a hundren men stand together, each of them loses his mond and gets another one" [Nietzsche]

"Whatever it is you want to do, do it today ... go on do it" Indulge yourself, there is no tomorrow"

"Seek first to understand, then to be understood" [Covey]

"Building relations is all about building trust in a relationship. You make deposits by demonstrating honest and empathy" [Emotional Bank Account, Covey]

"A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds"

"We can have more than we've got because we can become more than we are"

"You don't have to be superman, batman or iron man ... just be my man!"

"True happiness comes from within yourself, not from someone else. Stop searching, start living"

"A girl should be two things: Classy and fabulous" [Coco Chanel]

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