Montana High School decided to hold an All-School Reunion. Over 3500 people came to the event. There were tours of the old school building and a picnic at Confederate Park. Several teachers would tell stories about the old days. Ms. Mabel Yates, the English teacher for fifty years, was wheeled to the Park.
Ms. Mao
Some eyes rolled and there were a few low groans when Ms. Yates was about to speak. Many started looking at their watches and coming up with excuses to be anywhere else instead of preparing to listen to a speech from an old woman who had few kind words for her students and made them work harder than all the other teachers:
Then Ms. Yates started to speak:
"I can't tell you how pleased I am to be here. I haven't seen many of you since your graduation, but I have followed your careers and enjoyed your victories as well as crying for your tragedies. I have a large collection of newspaper photographs of my students. I haven't appeared in person, but I have attended your college graduations, weddings and even the births of your child in, in my imagination."
Ms. Yates stopped for a while and started crying a bit. Then she said:
"It was my belief that if I pushed you as hard as I could, some of you would succeed to please me and others would succeed to annoy me. No matter what our motives are, I can see that you 'have all been successful in you chosen path."
There is no greater comfort for an educator than to see the end result of his or her years of work. You have all been a great source of pleasure and pride for me and I want you to know I love you all from the bottom of my heart."
There was a silence over the crowd for a few seconds and _then someone started clapping. The clapping then into cheering: then-into a deafening roar. Lawyers, truck, drivers, bankers and models were rubbing their-eyes or crying openly all, because of the words from a long forgotten English teacher from their hometown.
