Day 16 - Plaque from LeMars, Iowa (Throw, possibly Give)

As an English teacher, I have an interest in teaching my students proper spelling, punctuation and grammar.  It's certainly not ALL there is to English class and I'm not the type to run my classes through worksheet after worksheet on grammar or to devote an entire unit to sentence fragments.  I'd rather keep that stuff bite-sized (because a little goes a long way!), so this year I decided to do just that through the "Daily Fail."  I post a new picture each day of some sort of grammar, spelling or punctuation mistake that I've found on the internet (or the local newspaper!) so that they see how breaking the rules can disrupt communication - and result in people holding up your faux pas for all the world to ridicule!  So many of these daily fails demonstrate how little mistakes can completely sidetrack your intended message. 

My favorite 'fail' picture is of the jar whose label reads, "Blackberry Jam - Tastes just like Grandma!"  That apostrophe and 's' on the end of "Grandma" make a world of difference in meaning.  (It reminds me of a short story a student wrote for my class a couple of years ago which began:  "The alarm went off and I crawled out of bed and got dressed.  When I got down to the kitchen, I found Grandma cooking on the stove.")

So this morning I posted a plaque that the fine folks of the LeMars, Iowa, United Methodist Church presented to me when I ended my time there as youth pastor and headed off to seminary.  It's a small square of wood with an engraved plate on the front which reads: "He that follweth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12).  At the moment it was handed to me, I'm sure I didn't pause to read the words, but months later went I went to display it on a shelf, I couldn't believe my eyes.  "FOLLWETH"?

So here are these profound words of Jesus Christ and all I can see each time I look at the plaque is "follweth".  So it hibernated in a box for years and then spent today in the "Daily Fail" spot on the bulletin board and tomorrow morning some student will stroll into my room and remind me to "change the fail."  At that point, I was planning to throw it into the trash (sorry LeMars church - this doesn't mean I don't love you!), but when I mentioned it today during 6th period, one of the eighth grade boys asked if he could have it.  I asked why and his response was:  "Because it would be free and I love getting free stuff!"  And he was sincere, so I think I'll save it for him.