On the first day of school, with the permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, she removed all of the desks out of her classroom.

When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no desks.

‘Ms.. Cothren, where are our desks?’

She replied, ‘You can’t have a desk until you tell me how you earn the right to sit at a desk.’

They thought, ‘Well, maybe it’s our grades.’  ‘No,’ she said.

‘Maybe it’s our behavior.’ She told them, ‘No, it’s not even your behavior.’

And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, thirdperiod. Still no desks in the classroom.

By early afternoon television news crews had started gathering in Ms.Cothren’s classroom to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats onthe floor of the desk-less classroom, Martha Cothren said, “‘Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he/she has done to earn the 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 the door of her classroom and opened it. Twenty-nine (29) War Veterans, all in uniform, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk.  The Vets began placing the school desks in the classroom, and then they would walk over and stand alongside the wall … by the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place those students started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned…

Martha said, ‘You didn’t earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. Now, it’s up to you to sit in them. It is your  responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They and their comrades paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don’t ever forget it.’

This has been verified on Snopes and is a true story.
http://www.snopes.com/glurge/nodesks.asp

This came across my desk and makes such good sense I’m passing it on here.

A physics teacher in high school, once told the students that while one grasshopper on the railroad tracks wouldn’t slow a train very much, a billion of them would.  With that thought in mind, read the following, obviously written by a good Canadian.   A good idea . . . one light bulb at a time…
Check this out.  I can verify this because I was in Lowe’s the other day for some reason and just for the heck of it I was looking at the hose attachments . They were all made in China. The next day I was in Home Hardware and just for the heck of it, I checked the hose attachments there. They were made in Canada.  Start looking.

My grandson likes Hershey’s candy . I noticed, though, that it is marked made in Mexico now. I do not buy it any more . My favorite toothpaste Colgate is made in Mexico now. I have switched to Crest.

This past weekend I was at Wal-mart . I needed 60W light bulbs . I was in the light bulb aisle, and right next to the GE brand I normally buy was an off brand labeled, “Everyday Value. ” I picked up both types of bulbs and compared the stats – they were the same except for the price. The GE bulbs were more money than the Everyday Value brand but the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that GE is made in MEXICO and the Everyday Value brand was made in – get ready for this – in Canada in a company in Ontario.

You have to read the labels on everything.

In our current economic situation, every little thing we buy or do affects someone else – even their job. I think this lady is on the right track.   So, after reading this, let’s all get behind her!

So throw out the myth that you cannot find products you use every day that are made right here.  My challenge to you is to start reading the labels when you shop for everyday things and see what you can find that is made in Canada – the job you save may be your own or your neighbors!

If you accept the challenge, pass this on to others in your address book so we can all start buying Canadian, one light bulb at a time!  Stop buying from overseas companies!

(We should have awakened a decade ago . . . . . . )

Let’s get with the program . . . . help our fellow Canadians keep their jobs and create more jobs here in Canada.

The Rurban Fringe ‘Eat Local’ Challenge: Summary. Interesting reading from The Rurban Fringe on shopping local – it will take a change in our thinking to make real change in the market place.