Have you ever given much thought to how your life has influenced other people? That would include being a good influence, but also a bad influence. Unfortunately, too many people just live their lives and never give this much thought.

Just recently, I stumbled upon an old, true story that I first read many years ago. The core of the story is the influence a teacher has on a student and the ripple effect over the course of his life. Fair warning, you may shed a tear when you read it.

Elizabeth Ballard of Chesapeake, Virginia tells this story of a school teacher named Miss Jean Thompson and illustrates the power of influence.

Each September, Miss Thompson greeted her new students with the words, “Boys and girls, I love you all the same. I have no favorites.” Of course, she wasn’t being completely truthful. Teachers do have favorites, and what is worse, they sometimes have students they just don’t like.

Teddy Stallard was a boy Miss Thompson just didn’t like, and for good reason. He was a sullen boy who sat slouched in his seat with his head down. When she spoke to him, he always answered in mono­syllables of “yes” and “no.” His clothes were musty and his hair unkempt. He was an unattractive boy in just about every way. Whenever she marked Teddy’s papers, she got a certain perverse delight out of putting X’s next to the wrong answers. And when she put the “F” at the top of his papers, she always did it with a flair. She should have known better. Teachers have records, and she had records on Teddy:

First grade: Teddy shows promise with his work and attitude, but poor home situation.

Second grade: Teddy is a good boy, but he is too serious for a second grader. His mother is terminally ill.

Third grade: Teddy is becoming withdrawn and detached. His mother died this year. His father shows no interest.

Fourth grade: Teddy is a troubled child. He needs help.

Christmas came. The children brought presents to Miss Thompson and piled them on her desk. They crowded around to watch her open them. All the presents were wrapped in brightly colored paper, except for Teddy’s present. His was wrapped in brown paper and held together with Scotch tape. But to tell the truth, she was surprised that he even brought a present.

When she tore open the paper, out fell a rhinestone bracelet with most of the stones missing and an almost-empty bottle of cheap perfume. The other children giggled at the shabby gifts, but Miss Thompson had enough sense to snap on the bracelet and take some perfume out of the almost-empty bottle and put it on her wrist. Holding her wrist up to the other children she said, “Isn’t it lovely?” The other children, taking their cue from the teacher, all agreed.

At the end of the day when all the other children had left, Teddy came over to her desk and said softly, “Miss Thompson … All day today you smelled just like my mother used to smell. That’s her bracelet you’re wearing. It looks very nice on you … I’m really glad you like my presents.” After he left, she got down on her knees and buried her head in her hands and cried and cried and cried, and she asked God to forgive her.

The next day when the children came to class, they had a new teacher. It was still Miss Thompson, but she was a new teacher. She cared in ways that the old teacher didn’t. She reached out in ways that the old teacher didn’t. She reached out to all the children, but especially to Teddy. She nurtured them and encouraged them and tutored them when they needed extra help. By the end of that school year, Teddy had caught up with a lot of children. He was even ahead of some.

Teddy moved away and Miss Thompson didn’t hear from him for a long time. Then, one day, seemingly out of nowhere, came a note:

Dear Miss Thompson,

I’m graduating from high school. I wanted you to be the first to know.

Love, Teddy Stallard

There was no address. But, four years later there was another short note, and it read:

Dear Miss Thompson,

I wanted you to be the first to know. I’m second in my class. The university has not been easy, but I really liked it.

Love, Teddy Stallard

And four years later there was still another note:

Dear Miss Thompson,

As of today, I am Theodore J. Stallard, MD! How about that! I wanted you to be the first to know.

I’m going to be married, the 27th of July to be exact. I want you to come and I want you to sit where my mother would have sat. You’re the only family I have now. Dad died last year.

Love, Teddy Stallard

And she went. And she sat where Teddy’s mother would have sat … because she deserved to be there. She was a teacher who had done something great for the Kingdom of God, and she deserved her reward.

I don’t think we realize that our actions have a relational reverberation, person-to-person, often down through generations.

Richard E Simmons III is the founder and Executive Director of The Center for Executive Leadership and a best-selling author.