BIG MAN, BIGGER HEART

By Peter Vuono


    Mother Teresa once said that there are three routes to follow in how we should treat others.
She said,"The first is to be kind, the second is to be kind and the third is to be kind". Brockton Special Ed. teacher, Carl Yancey was an avid proponent of this credo. Carl, who on Sept. 28th was hit and killed by a hit and run driver had all the attributes to be a man who was feared. He was big, and tall with an imposing stature. However Carl decided to listen to the scriptures and entered the narrow gate. Unlike so many others who are led astray, Carl was kind, gregarious and caring. He had a knack of making both his students and his customers at his second job smile.  Rather than becoming an entity to be feared he became an ordained minister and was an example to all. He was a bulwark of living for others.
    Just as importantly, Carl taught in  a Brockton Public School which catered to some of the most needy Special Children. He used his imposing figure coupled with his ebullent personality to assist, teach, mold and inspire. He was a flag ship of the golden rule.
   So, today as I drove down the highway and had the temerity to ask God, why the good die young, like Carl, the Lord was patient with me and answered my question. I now knew why Carl passed so early with the words of Jesus ringing in my ears-"As long as you did it for these, the least of my brethren, you did it for me". Carl has received the reward that the rest of us so anxiously wait for.