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MountainWings - The Daily Inspirational E-Mail
#1156 Wings Over The Mountains of Life
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The sequel to yesterday's issue, They Called Me A Hero.
http://www.mountainwings.com/past1/1155.htm


You Want Heroes?
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by Frosty Troy 

"Where are the heroes of today?" a radio talk show host 
thundered. 

He blames society's shortcomings on public education. Too many 
people are looking for heroes in all the wrong places. Movie 
stars and rock musicians, athletes and models aren't heroes, 
they're celebrities. 

Heroes abound in public schools, a fact that doesn't make the 
news. There is no precedent for the level of violence, drugs, 
broken homes, child abuse, and crime in today's America. Public 
education didn't create these problems but deals with them every 
day. 

You want heroes? 
Consider Dave Sanders, the school teacher shot to death while 
trying to shield his students from two Neo-Nazi youth on a 
bombing and shooting rampage at Columbine High School in 
Littleton, Colorado. Sanders gave his life, along with 12 
students, but other less heralded heroes survived the Colorado 
blood bath. 

You want heroes? 
Jane Smith, a Fayetteville, NC, teacher, was moved by the plight 
of one of her students, a boy dying for want of a kidney 
transplant. So this pretty white woman told the family of this 
handsome 14-year old black boy that she would give him one of 
her kidneys. And she did. When they subsequently appeared 
together hugging on the Today Show, even tough little Katie 
Couric was near tears. 

You want heroes? 
Doris Dillon dreamed all her life of being a teacher. She not 
only made it, she was one of those wondrous teachers who could 
bring the best out of every single child. One of her fellow 
teachers in San Jose, Calif., said "she could teach a rock to 
read." 

Suddenly she was stricken with Lou Gehrig's Disease, which is 
always fatal, usually within five years. She asked to stay on 
the job--and did. When her voice was affected she communicated 
by computer. Did she go home? She is running two elementary 
school libraries. When the disease was diagnosed, she wrote the 
staff and all the families that she had one last lesson to teach 
- that dying is part of living. 

Her colleagues named her Teacher of the Year. 

You want heroes? 
Bob House, a teacher in Gay, Georgia, tried out for Who Wants to 
be a Millionaire. After he won the million dollars, a network 
film crew wanted to follow up to see how it had impacted his 
life. 

New cars? 
Big new house? 

Instead, they found both Bob House and his wife still teaching. 
They explained that it was what they had always wanted to do 
with their lives and that would not change. The community was 
both stunned and gratified. 

You want heroes? 
Last year the average public school teacher spent $468 of their 
own money for student necessities--work books, pencils--supplies 
kids had to have but could not afford. That's a lot of money 
from the pockets of the most poorly paid teachers in the 
industrial world. 

Public schools don't teach values? The critics are dead wrong. 
Public education provides more Sunday school teachers than any 
other profession. The average teacher works more hours in nine 
months than the average 40-hour employee does in a year. 

You want heroes? 
For millions of kids, the hug they get from a teacher is the 
only hug they will get that day because the nation is living 
through the worst parenting in history. Many have never been 
taken to church or synagogue in their lives. 

A Michigan principal moved me to tears with the story of her 
attempt to rescue a badly abused little boy who doted on a 
stuffed animal on her desk--one that said "I love you!" He said 
he'd never been told that at home. This is a constant in 
today's society--two million unwanted, unloved, abused children 
in the public schools, the only institution that takes them all 
in. 

You want heroes? 
Visit any special education class and watch the miracle of 
personal interaction, a job so difficult that fellow teachers 
are awed by the dedication they witness. 

There is a sentence from an unnamed source which says, "We have 
been so anxious to give our children what we didn't have that we 
have neglected to give them what we did have." 

What is it that our kids really need? 
What do hey really want? 
Math, science, history and social studies are important, but 
children need love, confidence, encouragement, someone to 
talk to, someone to listen, standards to live by. 

Teachers provide upright examples, the faith and assurance of 
responsible people. Kids need to be accountable to caring 
parents who send well-disciplined children to school. These 
human values are essential in a democracy. 

Now, pass this on to someone you know who's a teacher, or to 
someone who should thank a teacher today!

Thank you for inviting MountainWings in your mailbox. 
See you tomorrow.
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