Almost 2 years ago I read a LTE in the Boston Globe that cheered me for the day. I posted a link in Cheers and Jeers and others liked it as well. But I had no idea that the story would stay with me and would serve as a source of comfort on difficult days.
On Saturday I read an article in the Boston Globe that put a smile on my face for the whole day. I've been thinking about the story off and on since then and I realize that this is another story I'll be remembering two years from now.
I'd like to share both stories with you so I've posted the LTE below and excerpts and pictures from the weekend article. Both are brought to you by unions.
Here is the letter that moved me:
The teacher and her mystery angel
June 23, 2007
I AM a first-grade teacher in Norwood . In September, I received a package at school filled with children's books, stationery, stickers, classroom decorations, pencils, and candy. Inside was a note from someone identifying herself only as "a friend," encouraging me to stay positive. The author fondly recalled her own years of teaching and her love of children.
As the months passed, I continued to receive packages at school -- at Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter. After each delivery, I discussed the beauty of our gifts with my students. I was able to convey the value of giving without expecting anything in return.
About a week ago, the school secretary called down to my room and reported that another package had been delivered.
I ran to the front of the school and followed my mystery angel, a woman unfamiliar to me, to her car. "Who are you?" she asked as I asked her the same.
"I won't tell you my name," she told me, "but I will tell you that I never wanted you to see me. Someone in your school told me that you were new here, and I wanted you to feel encouraged and supported." She said she felt that educators often don't receive the support and love they need to carry out their jobs.
After embracing me and wishing me well, my "friend" drove off, leaving many of my questions unanswered.
Although I never learned her name, I did learn a lifetime of lessons from her this year.
MEGHAN WALSH, Chestnut Hill
As for those Iron Workers...
Photos courtesy David L. Ryan, The Boston Globe
This is part 2 of a story that began in 1996. There is a 2-minute vid at the Iron Workers website about the first part of the story. The vid is short and well worth watching. The iron workers were building a research center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The children in the pediatric clinic developed a bond with the iron workers by waving to them and making signs. The workers began painting messages and names on the structure in response to the children's messages. At the end of the week they passed a hard hat and collected donations for the Jimmy Fund--the fundraiser for the children's clinic.
Part 2 of the story is in a 1½ minute vid. The iron workers are back and they're building the Yawkey Center for Cancer Care. The Yawkey Center will allow patients to have all of their appointments in one building and it will solve the problem of cramped space and traffic congestion. In that vid one of the moms says:
"She'll always be a piece of this building, which is a good feeling to have," Elizabeth Hoenshell said, holding Kristen. "They don't have to do this, the guys. They could just do their job and do a good job at it and give us a building that we can get treatment at, but they go the extra step and that's huge."
Those pictures above are of the children holding up their names and the iron workers braving the cold and wind on 4 ton I beams decorated with the children's names. From the article:
For the young cancer patients, who press their noses to the glass to watch new names added every day, the steel and spray-paint tribute has given them a few moments of joy and a towering symbol of hope...
Yesterday, Juclaubern Palmer Osias, a 16-year-old from Holbrook who was diagnosed with cancer last year, saw his name immortalized in green paint on a beam on the seventh floor.
"It's your name," he said. "It makes you feel important."
One of the comments with the article summed up my feelings entirely. Some one named aranjoe wrote, "The children are saints and the good union ironworkers are the best of men. The world seems to be less unfair after reading this story." I couldn't have said it better.
Something the article missed pointing out was that the Jimmy Fund Clinic will be located in the new building. Those iron workers who threw money in the hard hat during in 1996 are entwined with part 2 through their donations. Children are surviving cancer in greater numbers due to work done in the research building that iron workers constructed in 1996. Those small donations made a difference. But so did the effort made by Local 7 to put a smile on the face of a sick child.
What has put a smile on your face this week?