Do you have any idea what the simplest act of optimism can do for those around you? Bits & Pieces reports that a school system had instituted a program to help students who were confined to a hospital.

One particular teacher was assigned to a boy who had been badly burned and was in great pain. The mere sight of the boy took the teachers breath away. Yet she managed to tell him that she had been sent by the school to help him with nouns and adverbs. After a brief lesson, the teacher left… yet she felt like she hadn’t accomplished anything.

When the teacher arrived at the hospital the next day a nurse asked her. “What did you do to that boy?” The teacher thought she had done something wrong and began to apologize. “No, no,” the nurse stopped her. “Since your visit, his whole attitude has changed. He’s fighting back and responding to treatment. It’s as though he’s decided to live.”

Two weeks later the boy explained his change of heart. “They wouldn’t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?”

Friend, it is so important that you instill confidence in those around you. Even the smallest encouragement can generate the grandest of hopes – and hope gives life.

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