In 1995,I returned to Miami Beach High School to speak to the drama   class.Afterward I asked the drama teacher if any of my English teachers was still there."Irene Roberts,"he told me,"is in class just down the hall." I was no one special in Miss Roberts' class.I don't remember any one special bit of wisdom she passed on.Yet I cannot forget her respect for language,for ideas and for her students.I realize now,many years later,that she is a selfless teacher.I'd like to say something to her,but I don't want to pull her from a class. The drama teacher brought Miss Roberts into the hallway where stood this 32yearold man she last saw at 18."I'm Mark Medoff,"I told her."You were my 12th grade English teacher in 1981."She raised her head,as if this angle   might bring back her memory.And then,though armed with a message I wanted to deliver in some perfect words,I couldn't think up anything more memorable than this,"I want you to know,"I said,"you were important to me." And there in the hallway,this slight and lovely woman,now nearing retirement age,this teacher who didn't remember me,began to weep;she held me in her arms. Remembering this moment,I began to sense that everything I will ever know,everything I will ever pass on to my students,to my children,is an inseparable part of a treasure of our shared wonder and hope that we can,must,make ourselves better. Irene Roberts held me in her arms and through her tears whispered against my cheek,"Thank you."And then,with a quick look into my forgotten face,she disappeared back into her classroom,returned to what she had done thousands of days through all the years of my absence. On reflection,maybe those were,after all,just the right words to say to Irene Roberts.Maybe they are the very words I would like to speak to all those teachers I carry through my life as part of me,the very words I would like spoken to me one day by some returning student,"I want you to know you were important to me." According to the writer,the most important thing is   _  .
selfimprovement a good memory good health good school grades