Baruch Schwartz (name changed) was a young man who had earned a reputation in his school as a troublemaker. One day, Baruch was sent to the principal’s office for the umpteenth time, where he sat through the principal’s usual lecture about the importance of behaving properly, having values and goals in life, and so forth.
The next day, Baruch underwent a miraculous change. Suddenly, he became far more cooperative and well mannered, and before long he had become a model student.
The entire faculty was curious to know what the principal had said that had affected him so deeply, but the principal admitted that he had no idea what had caused the change.
Finally, the teachers decided to ask Baruch himself what had brought about his transformation.
“I wasn’t really paying attention to a word the principal said that day,” the boy confessed. “But in the middle of our conversation, his intercom buzzed, and the secretary told him he had a phone call. ‘I can’t talk now; I’m in a meeting with someone very important,’ the principal told her.
“When I left his office, those words kept echoing in my mind. The principal thought I was very important! It made me feel so wonderful that I decided to buckle down.”
Reproduced from A Life Worth Living by Rabbi Shraga Freedman with permission of the copyright holders, ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications, Ltd.
