When children are asking for love

 Dapper Dan was a first grade student in my classroom.
Unfortunately, he represents many children and grandchildren
today who are asking for our love. In my twenty years of
teaching, there is no child who challenged me more than Dapper
Dan. He also is the child I remember the most from my twenty
years of teaching. I will never forget my first week in the
classroom with Dapper Dan. He was a skinny small boy with a
gorgeous smile. His smile however was displayed far too
infrequently. He came from a broken home and craved love and
attention. 

The day this was most apparent was the day Dan decided that he
was not going to go to lunch with the other children. He had
latched onto his desk with his head inside and he wouldn't let
go. What was I to do? The only option I could think of was to
carry Dan, his chair and his desk down to the Principal's office
while we went to lunch. I remember feeling like a mother duck as
I carried Dan, his chair and his desk and was followed by
twenty-five little first graders through the secretary's office
and into Principal Kovatch's office. Five minutes later, Dan
came walking into the cafeteria with the Mr. Kovatch wearing a
big smile on his face.

Dan continued to be the most difficult child I ever taught and
demanded constant attention throughout the year, but from that
day on, I always knew when I could get Dan to smile his gorgeous
smile, everything was right with the world.

Many years later, Dan came back to visit me at school. He was
dressed in his U. S. Navy uniform wearing his beautiful smiles.
I asked Dan to speak to the students and his smile and his
uniform immediately captured their attention. He told them how
much Mr. Schmitz had meant to him and how much I had positively
affected his life. 

It was the best thank you I have ever received.