“I learned the color yellow!” Kelly shouted. Other kids blurted out all kinds of answers such as, “I learned cursive!” and “I learned how to add and subtract! Wait, how do we do that again?” Nonstop answers kept spewing out of the students’ mouths for five minutes straight. That is, until Xavier, being the first to do so, raised his hand. Mr. Quill called on him.

            Xavier boldly stated, “I learned how to think outside of the box and to explore my imagination rather than just always learning what I am taught. Mrs. Kowlage didn’t really teach a lesson on that, but her effect on everyone taught me that and one of her students taught me that, too.”

            “Okay class, I have some rather bad news. Mrs. Kowlage was diagnosed with cancer about a month ago. However, she was too far into it and she died this morning in the hospital. I am so sorry,” Mr. Quill gave us the news, his along with everyone else’s eyes tearing a little. Some kids who were crying the most didn’t know what cancer was though it still hurt them internally.

            “Mr. Quill, about a month ago, the day before the first day Mrs. Kowlage was absent, I started but never finished reading an essay I wrote about her. I don’t have it but I know what it’s about. Can I say the rest of it?” Xavier asked, tears in his eyes, too.

Mr. Quill told him yes, “Yes, and it’s ‘may I say the rest of it’ not ‘can.’” He was breaking down as he said this

            “One of the most influential people in my life is my teacher. Everyone goes with whatever she says. That’s a big influence. My teacher is a big influence because almost no one really argues with her and everyone only learns what she says. So if she says the garden outside in not real, we probably might believe her. I can’t remember the other two reasons but that’s what it was basically about. But, I don’t really learn what she tells me. I learned from someone that I should take what she says and try to learn more than that. I hope me, or maybe someone, can cause a difference like this. I wish I could be a teacher just like her,” Xavier said impromptu.

            Fifteen years past and all of the students aged. It turned out that Xavier didn’t become a teacher, but Anna did. However, she wasn’t a second grade teacher teaching young minds the color yellow, but a college professor teaching Western Philosophy. In this class, she taught her college students how to think outside the box and other philosophical concepts. Xavier, however, pursued a career as a motivational speaker. Every seminar or lecture he has, he tries to include his second grade essay that changed his life. He speaks of that one girl, one lesson and one teacher that made him and her very, very influential.