Inspirational Video - Thank You to Teachers... And Who are You Thankful For?
By Brian Vaszily, Author of The 9 Intense Experiences, A #1 Global Bestseller Named One of the 5 All-Time Best Motivational Books
A thank you to teachers ... in this popular inspirational video, I may look like crap (I was tired!), but you will be inspired. And it will leave you pondering who YOU are thankful for -- that certain teacher from long ago, like me, or someone else -- who may not even know it (please share in the Comments area below!)
You see, people spend so much energy on what they believe they lack, what they believe they don’t have or are not getting.
But an amazing and inspiring thing happens when you slow down and shift your mind to remembering all you do have, all you’ve been given, and all you therefore have to be thankful for in your life:
The rust and crust inside you from living a life largely in reaction to negative emotions starts to clear, you feel much better instantly, and the door inside you opens wider to more positive experiences, more gifts, happening in your life.
Put another way, the more you focus on what you believe you lack, the more you live a life that feels like it is lacking.
The more you focus on all you have – and the more you actively put your gratitude for all you’ve been given out there to the world – the more opportunities you will receive to be grateful for!
And so as you watch this inspirational video, ask yourself this:
Who in your life are you thankful for that probably does not even know it, or at least does not know the extent of your gratitude?
Watch the "Thank You Teacher" inspirational video below -- to a REMARKABLE teacher long ago who doesn't even know how thankful I am -- for my own true story and some inspiration, and then...
Please Share Who You are Thankful For - A Thank You to a Teacher, Or Anyone Else - Below
Answer Who You are Thankful for Below
(and see other top inspirational videos!)
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Thank You to a Teacher - Transcript of the Inspirational Video
When I was in seventh grade at Luther Burbank Elementary School in Chicago, my teacher, Mrs. Lillian McCabe, changed the course of my life.
I’ve tried to track her down to thank her but, even here in the Internet and social media age, I haven’t been able to find her yet. I hope she is living a wonderful life.
Mrs. McCabe wasn’t even my favorite teacher then. That would have been Ms. Raimondo, also an excellent teacher but more importantly to me then, a teacher I found attractive. I had a boyhood crush on her, which of course qualified her as my favorite.
But while Ms. Raimondo, Mr. Heller, Mrs. Brown and other teachers at Luther Burbank Elementary were exceptional (thank you), through her perseverance, intelligence, dedication, facial expressions that quickly prompted me to stop misbehaving, and other gifts, of all teachers it was Mrs. McCabe who most taught me the value of learning, and of how to recognize all I was capable of, to believe in myself, and to apply myself.
There are myriad ways she did this, but it is a single comment she wrote on a single piece of paper to me that has continued to change the course of my life – or to be more exact, that has kept me on a better course in life.
In Mrs. McCabe’s Social Studies class, we were assigned to write a biographical paper on a historical American. I chose Benjamin Franklin because with his accomplishments as an author, scientist, politician, inventor and witty-quote-maker, he seemed so much more dynamic than the others.
Inspired by Benjamin being a towering intellect, activist and rock star of his time in the face of extreme challenges, I wrote one of the best papers of my elementary school career.
On a note card she attached to the paper when she returned it to me, Mrs. McCabe acknowledged as much in her own words (and with a smiley face). That included these words:
“We expect great things of you, too.
Wow.
Here was my teacher, Mrs. McCabe, comparing me – a kid who thought he was cool because his African-American classmates said that for a white boy, I had some pretty good break-dancing moves – to a historical giant who helped form a nation and shift the world, and along the way published a famous newspaper, invented the lightening rod, founded the first public library and fire department in the U.S., and who later in his life was a driving force in abolishing slavery, amongst so much more.
And not only was she stating on that note card that she expected great things from me. She wrote that “We” do.
We who?
We as in at least all of my other teachers and the principal at Burbank, too.Probably even “we” as in society in general. Everyone.
I, a kid, had gifts to give the world. People saw it, and they believed in me. I had a responsibility to nurture those gifts. Mrs. McCabe believed in me.
I didn’t respond then to her about the words she had written. But I kept that note card. In fact, I have that note card still. And I have turned to it many times throughout my life.
I turned to it often when I was in my young twenties, married, and a father both working and going to college full-time while incurring massive student loans and putting food on the table with public food stamps.
I turned to it while working for years in full-time-plus jobs I couldn’t stand to provide for my family while simultaneously working late into the night after my wife and son went to sleep and on weekends on books I was writing.
I turned to it through bankruptcy, divorce, and through the discovery of older “friends” I trusted who were actually using my hard work, gifts, and kind heart against me for their own personal gain.
Many times I thought to throw in the towel on my gifts, goals and mission because of how challenging it all is, and instead just dedicate my brain and energy to making wads of money on Wall Street. I turned to Mrs. McCabe’s note card in those times, too, and still do.
Today, I am the founder and editor of IntenseExperiences.com, which through dedication and hard work has become one of the most popular personal growth websites in the world. The free weekly newsletter at IntenseExperiences.com has helped positively transform the lives of tens of thousands of people.
I have written books and created audio programs that have positively shifted the lives of many thousands more, and next year a major publisher will release the big book I’ve been working on for ten years, a book I promise will shift the lives of everyone who reads it in unparalleled ways. I am also about to launch a worldwide book club whose mission is to improve individual’s lives, improve the societies they live in, help unify the world, and help charities in the process.
I’m forty years old, and I’m just getting started.
I’ve never had anyone wealthy backing me, I am not sponsored by any corporation, I didn’t graduate from any Ivy League school, I don’t belong to any boys club and never did, and I haven’t been groomed for success by any prominent anyone. I am so much more fortunate than all that, and I am so grateful.
I am grateful that I have such a wise, caring and persistent mother. And the same goes for my sister, Michelene. I am grateful that I have a son who is such a bright and thoughtful young man, and a young woman I raised as my own daughter who is so bright and thoughtful as well.
I am grateful for friends like Richard Steelman, who put so much of his own effort and gifts into helping me simply because he is a friend. I am grateful for ex girlfriends and wives who, though it didn’t work out, cared so much for me, and still do. I am thankful for my literary agent and my editor who – despite being bombarded with so much so often – believe so deeply in me.
I am thankful for Benjamin Franklin.
And I am so thankful for all the schoolteachers who, despite the politics, lack of empathy, and other challenges they often endured, committed themselves to teaching me the value of learning and putting it into action and, even more so, for teaching me to recognize, believe in, and act on all the gifts and the truth inside me.
In particular I thank you, Mrs. Lillian McCabe, for all of this, including having the foresight and taking the time to write on that note card you attached to my Benjamin Franklin paper back in seventh grade that,
“We expect great things from you, too, Brian.”
Your words really have mattered … not only to me, but to anyone I have been able to help, and will help, and anyone they will help as well. Your teaching has a true difference in the world.
To all the teachers out there – the schoolteachers of young ones and older ones too like those in high school and college, and also for that matter those who are dedicated to positively teaching people in other ways, no matter what your title is – remember this:
Though it may sometimes be a frustrating experience, with all the politics and what may seem like indifference or worse, and even though you may also sometimes want to throw in the towel and just dedicate your skills and energy to making hordes of money on Wall Street, your lessons, your encouraging words, your dedication are making a major difference in the world.
You may not see the results immediately, you may never hear decades later from a student of your about what a difference you made, but you are doing one of a handful of things that matters most in this world.
So thank you.
To conclude, I again invite you to share your answer to this big question with the world:
Who in your life – whether it is a teacher from long ago, old friend, family member, an exr, someone you once worked with, stranger who touched your life, or even public figure -- are you thankful for that probably does not even know it, or at least does not know the extent of your gratitude?
Please Answer Who You are Thankful for -- A Thank You to a Teacher or Anyone Else -- Below (and please share comments about the inspirational video above too)