The Teacher and the Stolen Watch

Following last Sunday's sermon Hazel R sent me this wonderful story.  I'm delighted Hazel is happy I share it on the blog.

A story is told of a young man who finds his primary school teacher at a wedding party. He goes to the teacher to pay his respects and show his admiration. His first question is whether the teacher was able to remember him. But the teacher is not able to do so, as decades have elapsed since the young man had left the school. He asks young man what he's doing with his life now, and the young man replies that he is a teacher. And in fact it was the old man who had inspired him to take up teaching.

The young man narrates the story that he was studying in school when an incident took place while the teacher was taking the class. Another boy in the same class had come into school with a beautiful new watch. The student, tempted as he was, stole the watch, which the boy had kept in his bag during the lunch break. On finding the watch missing after lunch, that boy started crying and went to the teacher, stating that his watch had been stolen.

The teacher had then asked all the students to close their eyes and face the wall while he would search every student’s pocket. This boy who had stolen the watch was now worried that he would be found out and be exposed in front of the class and his character would be shattered. As the teacher went round searching the pockets of allthe students of the class, and found it in the pocket of the boy. Still he continued with the search till the very last boy.

After this, the teacher asked the students to open their eyes and take their seats. The teacher showed the watch to the class and gave it back to the boy it belonged to. But he never said who was found in possession of the watch.

All through his life in the school, none of the teachers or students ever came to know who had stolen the watch.

The young man explained that this teacher had saved his dignity. But the reply that the teacher gave was more remarkable. The teacher said that he himself did not know who stole the watch that day, because while he searched the pockets of all the students, he himself also had his eyes closed.