You Never Know

by Joel Heffner

Each year, when I was a teacher, I lead a class trip from Brooklyn, NY to Washington, DC from 5:00 AM to about 10:00 PM. I came home with a pounding headache every time. One year, while getting off the bus, a boy stopped and very seriously said, "Thanks, that was the best day of my life." I wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic (as 14 year olds can be) or serious. A few minutes later, a young man who I thought was the boy's brother, came up to me and told me that the boy lived in an orphanage and didn't get to go very far from Brooklyn. You never know when your headache can be someone else's best day ever.

6S

Joel Heffner is the creator of The Story Starter where you can get ideas for more than 300 million stories. (No kidding, he counted them.) The Story Starter was recently chosen by Writer's Digest as one of the year's best sites for writers.