A principal of an elementary school in North Texas told this story to Pastor Philip McLarty. One day there was a minor altercation on the playground – a second-grader pushed one of his classmates off the slide, and while she wasn't hurt, it could've been dangerous.  The teacher sent for the principal.

She talked with the children in the hallway outside their classroom.  She got their story and then explained the seriousness of playground safety and how important it was to be nice to each other.  When she finished, the little boy apologized, and that was that.

A couple of days later, she happened to see the little girl with her mother in the checkout line at the grocery store.  She smiled and they waved discreetly to each other.  She got into the adjacent checkout line, but was in earshot of the little girl.  She overheard the mother ask her daughter, "Who was that lady who just waved to you?"  The little girl said, "She's works at our school."  "What does she do?" the mother asked.  The little girl said, "She helps people apologize."

My friend told me later, "It helped me to think much more clearly about what I do in my work, beyond titles and status, to what actions I take that make it meaningful."

A band director friend told me about going back to a community where he'd once taught.  He said it was fun getting reacquainted with band parents and friends he hadn't seen for years.  He said he was standing on the sidewalk downtown when a young man came up and asked, "Do you remember me?"  He didn't have a clue, but then, he'd taught a lot of students, and they had long-since grown up.  He said, "You're going to have to help me out here."  The young man told him his name and said, "You're the one who introduced me to the world of music, and I just wanted to say thank you."

Who do people say YOU are?