The Three Questions

My eyes welled up with tears today, because of a story my host teacher told me. I had gone in to input my report card marks for the second time, so she told me about a day last week when this happened.

The kids were very very hyper and very very bad. She kept them in until 4pm, by which time she was very very mad at them for being silly, for disrespecting her, on top of which she was sick. She was actually sick at school that day, as well, so she was in an especially bad mood. During this detention, the kids are completely silent, and she's mad, so she sits down to read a book, hoping it will calm her down. She picks up "The Three Questions" by Jon J. Muth.



The Three Questions is a book about a boy named Nikolai, who wants these three questions answered:

When is the best time to do things?
Who is the most important one?
What is the right thing to do?

Through the story, he discovers the answer to these three questions, and the wise old turtle explains them at the end of the story.

"There is only one important time, and that time is now. The most important one is always the one you are with. And the most important thing is to do good for the one who is standing at your side."

At 4pm, the kids leave, and at 4:02pm, Dwayne, an old student from the school who always visits (even though he's never been in my teacher's class at all!) knocks at the door. My teacher says to him, "Dwayne, I'm not in a good mood, so I won't be very good company right now. So, you have 2 choices. You can come back and we can talk when we're in a better mood, or I'll be cleaning this class for the next 30 minutes, so you can join me."

Dwayne shrugs and says, "Sure, I'll clean," and joins her in cleaning. My teacher realizes she's being rude after a long period of silent cleaning, so she starts some small talk, and then tells Dwayne to read the book. She asks him what the answers to the three questions are, expecting him to give the answer the wise old turtle gave.

Instead, this is what he says.
"The most important time is 4:02pm at Topcliff Public School. The most important person is you. And the right thing to do is to help you clean."

My eyes just welled up with tears when she told this part of the story.
This is what makes it all worth it.

And the book is amazing, because the watercolour illustrations are fantastic, but the message is even better. The best time is NOW, the most important person is the person you're with, and the right thing to do is to do good for that person.