VETERANS DAY

When the kids entered the classroom first thing in the morning theydiscovered that there were no desks."Ms. Cothren, where're our desks?" asked the students.She replied, "You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn theright to sit at a desk."One student said, "Well, maybe it's our grades.""No," she said."Maybe it's our behavior." said another student.She told them, "No, it's not even your behavior."And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third periodand still no desks in the classroom.The final period of the day came and finally Ms. Cothren said, "Throughoutthe day no one has been able to tell me just what he/she has done to earnthe right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom.Now I am going to tell you." At this point, Martha Cothren went over to thedoor of her classroom and opened it.Twenty-seven U.S. Veterans, all in uniforms, walked into that classroom,each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began placing the school desks inrows, and then they would walk over and stand alongside the wall. By thetime the last soldier had set the final desk in place those kids started tounderstand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right tosit at those desks had been earned.Martha said, "You didn't earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroesdid it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it's up to you tosit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to begood citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom toget an education. Don't ever forget it."By the way, this is a true story.