A hospital volunteer, a former school teacher, was asked to visit a child in the burn unit. The class the child was missing, she was told, was studying a unit on adverbs in English. The volunteer was not prepared for what she found: a boy horribly burned over most of his body, hardly recognizable at all. The volunteer did the best she could with him, and frankly was glad when her time was up so she could leave.

The next day the unit was buzzing about the change in the boy. When the volunteer former school teacher heard about it, she asked what had changed. "His attitude," they said. "Before he was depressed and despondent, and nobody here thought he had a chance. Now they think he will recover!"

"Why," asked the volunteer. "What is he saying?"

"He's saying it's not likely they'd teach about adverbs to a dying boy."

My minister told this one. Who knows if it's true? Who cares?

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