Awesome story to share with you…
One of my boys does TV and radio play-by-play for his high school’s football games. The Monday after a recent game, he had a substitute teacher in his Calc class, and he recognized her as being the mom of a player who’d had a couple of good carries in the game. Naturally friendly kid that he is, Jake introduced himself after class and shared some words of praise about her son. She thanked him, and he didn’t give it a second thought.
The next day, she was covering the class again. When she saw Jake, she pulled him aside to tell him that he had absolutely made her day the day before. She also shared that she had been so bursting with pride that she had called her husband to tell him the nice comment about their son.
She then handed Jake a package and a note from her husband. The signed note said:
“I was moved to hear that you went up to my wife, not having met her before, and complimented my son’s play to her. I was moved because of two things. The obvious one is the compliment of my son. The less obvious, but more important, was your display of maturity. It is rare amongst men your age. I’m sure you have been raised by great parents who are very proud of you. I wish you well always and hopefully will run into you at [school] sometime in the near future to at least shake your hand and thank you in person. In the meantime, please accept this shirt as a small token of my heartfelt thanks. We can always use compassionate and strong people like you in the FBI.”
The package held a gray FBI t-shirt from the NY bureau. Turns out the dad is a special agent.
I LOVE sharing this story, and believe me, it has nothing to do with my kid’s role in it. Jake was just being Jake — he’s genuinely nice and outgoing, not at all the Eddie Haskell type. What blew me away was what the dad did to recognize and commend what I think of as garden-variety kindness. What a tremendous human being. His incredible words and thoughtful gift will serve as a lifelong reminder to take that extra moment to say or do something kind, because you never know how it might change someone’s day for the better.
Isn’t that pretty cool? Go ahead: Make someone’s day!
What a blessing to see the fruits of your parenting labors in action AND that there are people who recognize and appreciate Jacke’s character and affirm him in that way! Really super!
JAKE JAKE JAKE. So sorry. Disobedient flying fingers!
LOL…no worries! My dad called them “JayZack” for years because he couldn’t tell them apart!