The little fifth grade boy sat at his little desk bored. He looked out the window day dreaming. The teacher kept teaching but the little had no interest in the subject matter. He was lost in his thoughts of a fantasy world. Nobody could reach him while he lost himself in a fantasy world of his own choosing. A place of imagination where all things were within the realm of possibility. The little daydreamer preferred this world to the reality around him. A world of broken hearts, disillusionment, and where dreams were not encouraged or believed.
Suddenly the teacher said something snapping the boy's attention back into reality. This little boy was not a model student. He showed promise but had no interest in things like science, math, or social studies. The only time the little boy showed interest and promise came when the teacher taught English. To be more specific, when the teacher taught composition. He loved to write.
On this day she gave out a writing assignment. All other the classroom the other students moaned in agony. Not the little daydreamer. The teacher assigned the students to write a short story. Each child could pick out their own subject matter but the story had to be several pages in length. While other children whined in their protest of such a taxing assignment the little daydreamer quickly took out his notebook and pencil and let his imagination run wild. He went to work and came alive on the inside.
The daydreamer became so engrossed in his assignment he got lost in the story. It felt like he actually lived in the story. He could feel the emotions, picture himself in the adventure, and see every scene in vidvid detail. Here is the plot of what he wrote. The world was about to come to an end. The main character overcame many obstacles to get to safety. In the end there was no safety to be found except to escape to another planet via a spaceship.
In the end, the main character made it to the space ship where he would be rescued along with family and friends. In a surprising plot twist, when the captain of the spaceship opened the door, he just so happened to be a popular kid in that very classroom. The captain was in real life the daydreamer's best friend. The daydreamer wrote furiously for the entire class period. It seemed like time stood still. The assignment brought the young lad to life academically. Long before he wanted the allotted time ended and the next subject had to be taught. The writing assignments were turned in.
The next day the teacher did something surprising during the English period. Instead of the children doing another assignment she decided to read each short story for the class without revealing who wrote it until the end. This took a couple of days.
The daydreamer's story did not get read until the second day. He sat nervously at his desk as the teacher read story after story. While most of the students were exuberant that they were not having to do classwork, the daydreamer writhed in agony. Then Mrs. McKinney picked up the next story and the daydreamer knew immediately she read the work of his imagination out loud.
The daydreamer tried to act nonchalant but the truth is he cared about what Mrs. McKinney thought about his work deeply. He also cared about what others in the class thought about the story. As she came to the part of the story about the revelation of the identity of the captain of the spaceship, she and the whole class gasped in surprise. This reaction satisfied the little daydreamer to no end.
This proved to be pivotal day in the life of that little boy. He never forgot the reaction of that teacher and the class to his story. On that day he understood the power of words and the ability to move people with those words through writing. For the first time in his young life he believed he could be good at something. For the first time he felt like he had a gift and could excel at something. That little boy always considered Mrs. McKinney his favorite teacher. She had inspired the best in him, at least in English. He always struggled with the other subjects doing just enough to get by.
This continued to be the case through the years. The little daydreamer became a larger daydreamer. Anguishing in classes like Biology, Algebra, Geometry, and Chemistry. He even failed an Algebra II class. Teachers could not motivate the daydreamer. No matter what said or how they threatened, none of them broke through. The daydreamer continued to stare out the windows and get lost in his daydreams and fanciful imagination.
He squeaked by enough to graduate from high school. The same pattern followed the daydreamer in college. In each class he suffered through. He gravitated toward the desks near the windows. He continued to get lost in his thoughts. One professor gave a writing assignment and once again the daydreamer fully engaged. Just like Mrs. McKinney had done about ten years earlier, the professor saw the promise in the daydreamer and wrote words of encouragement in red ink on the his essay. The daydreamer never forgot them.
Just like in high school, the daydreamer did just enough to squeak by to earn a college degree. After college he devoted himself to his career. His career took him in a total different direction than all his daydreams. He got married. Had some children. He worked hard and enjoyed some modest success in his career.
One fall afternoon the daydreamer sat his desk. Just like in earlier days he could not get focused on his work. He had work to do but his imagination and daydreams got the best of him. Just like as a kid he looked out the window and began to daydream. He took out a legal pad and with pen in hand he did something he had not done in years. He began to write. He wrote whatever came to mind.
Suddenly the daydreamer awakened to a reality he had never discovered before. He knew he had been created to write. He knew writing coursed through his veins. It did not matter how many people would read his writings in the future. It only mattered that he write. On that day he did more than daydream. He began to fulfill his destiny. For the rest of his days he wrote. He wrote essays. He wrote inspirational pieces. He wrote poems. He wrote a few books. This little daydreamer gave his life to writing. He never became famous. That never drove him to begin with.
God used a little teacher named Mrs. McKinney to deeply impact his life and help him pursue his dreams. The little daydreamer never saw or spoke to her again after fifth grade. She never knew the impact she had on that little daydreamer. Her gift and words of encouragement help fuel the fire in the daydreamer's heart to this day. How do I know. I am that little daydreamer.
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