The Whisper Test

I feel very fortunate to speak with you twice a week and to share some of the values that I consider to be important to living a happy life. Yesterday, I heard a story that moved me deeply. It was written by Mary Ann Bird from her memoir, “The Whisper Test.” It was about her experience as a little girl. She was born with a cleft palate that affected her upper lip and the roof of her mouth. Her family was loving and supportive, but trouble started when she entered school and started being teased by the other students.
Each year, in those days, students had their hearing tested in what seems to us now as a primitive manner. The student would stand next to the door while the teacher whispered a sentence to determine if the student could hear clearly. Mary Ann’s hearing was not good. In fact, she had almost no hearing in one ear. She dreaded the test, but her second grade teacher changed her life with the seven words she asked her to identify.
Normally, teachers would say something like, “The sky is blue,” or “It’s dark at night.” But, Mrs. Taylor, a loving and caring woman, didn’t say those words. Instead, she said, “I wish you were my little girl.”
You have an opportunity to do a loving act or say loving words to the people in your life. It costs so little to make these choices, but it can change so much.