Student cries happy tears after a teacher reminds him that test scores aren't everything.
His mom cried when she read it, too.
Standardized testing was not the best day at school for most of us.
When you're a kid, kind words from a caring adult can make such a lasting impression.
Schools can have so much at stake with their testing results, they often inadvertently transfer that pressure onto the students.
That's exactly what happened to Indiana third-grader Rylan as he was gearing up for something most kids dread: standardized testing week.
His teacher, who has asked to remain anonymous, gave each of her students a letter and a cookie before the big test. The letter is touching, but it's the video of Rylan's reaction to it that really gets me (you'll see that at the end).
Whether you think the amount of testing being done in public schools is great or if you wish it were reduced dramatically, one thing we can all probably agree on is that it's important to not send kids the wrong message — that their entire worth is wrapped up in whatever score they get.
The need for kids to hear this stuff is real. School pressures are waaaayyy different from when most of us were kids.
I'll never forget when I drove my daughter home after results came in from a three-day marathon of fifth-grade testing. Usually she was bubbly and happy on days like these because she often got the highest score in her class and was proud of herself — she worked hard and did her best to beat her own scores and loved feeling like it was paying off.
This time she was salty. Her friend had bested her, and though she congratulated her sincerely and effusively, she couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment that her "winning" streak had been broken.
My daughter exercising her love of learning: on her way to Battle of the Books (L) and learning photography basics (R).
A lightbulb went off in my head. Her self-worth is all wrapped up in this, I realized. This is all she's ever known as a measure of who she is and where she ranks.
I pulled the car over and we had an instant talk because it was that important. My speech went something like this:
"You know that if you never achieved another thing in your entire life, you would still be loved and valued in our family just for who you are, right? It'd be disappointing if you stopped trying to reach your potential, but even if you did, we'd still love you.
Who you are isn't proven by your track record of achievements — it's the moments when you're sad but are kind to others anyway, when you have a good reason to be a jerk but you choose not to be, and it's when no one is looking and you don't have to be a good person but you are anyway.
You will achieve amazing things in your life, and I will always be happy for you when you do, but not because it's proving anything about who you are. I already know who you are."
I saw a lightbulb go off for her then too. I hope it was a pivotal moment in how she will orient herself when going after lofty goals throughout her life.
Here's Rylan and his mom talking about what it meant to get his teacher's letter.
Hearing and seeing Rylan's face and his mother's gratitude as they share the letter is all the proof we need — a little kindness can go a long way.
If you're not completely sure a kid in your life totally knows how to separate their test scores from their self-worth, this is a great thing to share with them right now.
This article originally appeared on 03.08.16
A Generation Jones teenager poses in her room.Image via Wikmedia Commons
An office kitchen.via 
An angry man eating spaghetti.via 
At least it wasn't Bubbles. 
You just know there's a person named Whiskey out there getting a kick out of this. 
An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
- YouTube youtube.com
Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.