"Don't you remember that vicious thing he did to you?"
"No," Clara Barton replied, "But I do distinctly remember forgetting it."
You will never get ahead by trying to get even. Hatred is Hell's gift to an unsaved man.
Cruelty cheats us out of many potential blessings. Before the Civil War it was illegal to teach a slave how to read and write, yet from these ashes of prejudice there arose a man who saved the economic livelihood of the former oppressors. As the cotton market was beginning to subside, Dr. George Washington Carver discovered hundreds of uses for the lowly peanut and re-energized the Southern economy. How many potential Carvers who might have given great gifts in medicine, literature, invention, entertainment, and social innovations were suppressed by such cruelty as enforced ignorance?
In the late '60s, at a high school where I was teaching, I encountered a young man who used his size to intimidate others. His meanness was legendary. I saw students change their direction just to avoid him. Oh, he got his applause from the shallow and the conformists. But he received friendship from no one.
This true story has a moral that is self-evident.
Marshall was a person who made everyone happy when he would leave a room. He was one of the earliest advocates of the "put down" humor of today. He sneered at everything and ridiculed everyone. He was just as cruel physically, shoving people,"accidentally" stepping on toes, always with just enough self restraint to stay out of official trouble.
Dennis was an extremely hard working student, staying in the library till closing and always ready to help anyone who needed extra coaching.
So it was that Marshall chose Dennis for his particular wrath, once even "accidentally" breaking his glasses.
Many of us tried to straighten Marshall out, but to no avail. I must admit that he was one of a handful of students that I could not bring myself to like. In fact, it was just the opposite. I am ashamed to admit I intensely disliked him. I just knew Will Rogers had never met Marshall.
Finally, the day came that Marshall stepped over the line once too often, and he was expelled.
Years later, I was invited to the 20th reunion of Dennis' class. It was great to see so many of my former students who had developed into such successful adults.
Then came one of the greatest shocks I ever received in my 30 years of teaching. Seated together in one booth with their wives were Dennis and Marshall.
My curiosity compelled me to walk over and say hello... and find out just how such an unusual pairing had developed.
After exchanging greetings and noticing a warmth and kindness in Marshall's bearing I would have thought impossible years ago, I commented that I never expected to see the two of them hanging out together.
"Hang out?" Marshall said. "Dennis has grown into ...
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