Love: The One Creative Force

A college professor had his sociology class go into the Baltimore slums to get case histories of 200 young boys. They were asked to write an evaluation of each boy's future. In every case the students wrote, ''He hasn't got a chance.'' Twenty-five years later another sociology professor came across the earlier study. He had his students follow up on the project to see what happened to these boys. With the exception of 20 boys who had moved away or died, the students learned that 176 of the remaining 180 had achieved more than ordinary success as lawyers, doctors and businessmen.

The professor was astounded and decided to pursue the matter further. Fortunately, all the men were in the area and he was able to ask one, ''How do you account for your success?'' In each case the reply came with feeling, ''There was a teacher.''

The teacher was still alive, so he sought her out and asked the old but still alert lady what magic formula she had used to pull these boys out of the slums into successful achievement.

The teacher's eyes sparkled and her lips broke into a gentle smile. ''It's really very simple,'' she said. ''I loved those boys.''
-Eric Butterworth

This short story was extracted from the book titled: Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen