On the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a History teacher  at
      Robinson High School in Little Rock, did something not to be
      forgotten.  On the first day of school, with the permission of
      the  school superintendent, the principal and the building
      supervisor, she  removed all of the desks in her classroom. When the
      first period kids  entered the room they discovered that there were
      no desks.
                                ' Ms. Cothren, where are our desks? '

She  replied, ' You can ' t have a desk until you tell me how you earn the right  to sit at a desk. '

They thought, ' Well, maybe it ' s our grades. '  

' No,' she said.

' Maybe it ' s our behavior. '

She told them, ' No, it ' s not even your behavior. '

And so they came and went, the first period, second period, third period.
Still  no desks in the classroom.

Kids called their parents to tell them what  was happening and by early afternoon television news crews had started  gathering at the school to report about this crazy teacher who had taken  all the desks out of her
room.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats
on  the floor of the desk-less classroom. Martha Cothren said, ' Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he or she has done to  earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this  classroom. Now I am going to tell you. '

At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and
opened  it. Twenty-seven (27) U.S. Veterans, all in uniform, walked
into that  classroom, each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began
placing the  school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and
stand alongside  the wall. -- By the time the last soldier had set the
final desk in place  those kids started to understand, perhaps for
the first time in their  lives, just how the right to sit at those
desks had been  earned.

 Martha said, ' You didn ' t earn the right to sit at these desks. These            heroes did  it for you. They placed the desks here for you. They went
 halfway around  the world, giving up their education and interrupting
 their careers and  families so you could have the freedom you have.
 Now, it ' s up to you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to
 learn, to be good students, to  be good citizens. They paid the price
 so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don ' t ever forget
 it. '

 This is a true story. And this teacher was awarded the Veteran of  Foreign  Wars Teacher of the Year for the State of   Arkansas . She is the daughter of  a WWII POW.

 Pass this along so others won't forget  that the freedoms we have  in this  great country were earned by our  U.S. Veterans?