Sister Carol
Great teachers change lives and Sister Carol is one of four (excluding mentors who were not in the school system, like my parents) whose positive impact on my life continues to be felt, everyday.

She read this book to our class many years ago:

I can still remember sitting in the sunny classroom that day, listening to her voice, watching her turn each page, at first wondering why she would read us a child's book, and then so deeply engaged in the ensuing discussion that I can still feel myself back in that seat on that day.

Today I saw The Giving Tree on a list of banned books.  To be clear, this banning effort appears to have come from the 'left,' demonstrating that ignorance is not a partisan phenomena.  My question is this:  how can anyone look at the world we live in today and decide of all the many conflicts we face I choose to devote my energies to efforts to ban books?  Fundamentally misguided, in my view.

Sister Carol taught us to listen and engage in conversation with others, including those who see the world differently.  In a democracy we oppose ideas with better arguments, not efforts to silence the ideas themselves.  No one has a monopoly on the truth.  No individual, no interest group or party, no sect or region or nation has a monopoly on the truth.  As Sister Carol taught, and demonstrated by example, we all need each other in our search for truths in our lives.  Thank you Sister Carol.