ELSANOR, Alabama — “Right is always right, even if no one else is doing it. Wrong is always wrong, even if everyone else is doing it.” — St. Augustine.

For the first quarter of the 2011-12 school-year, students at Elsanor Elementary School recited that quote every day during assembly, said Principal Susan Runnels.

“Our most important goal is to turn out a good person,” Runnels said. “That’s something we have to work on every day.”

This quote, which has been attributed to Frank Outlaw, is what the students are reciting during the second quarter, Runnels said:

“Watch your thoughts,

They become your words.

Watch your words,

They become your actions.

Watch your actions,

They become your habits.

Watch your habits,

They become your character.

Watch your character,

It becomes your destiny.”

Beginning next month, the students will recite the Golden Rule, Runnels said, followed by this quote during the last quarter of the year:

“Believe you can, or believe you can’t. Either way you’ll be right.”

“I believe that if you say something every day, you’ll believe it,” she said, “and if you believe something to be true, you can make it happen. If a teacher or a parent tells a student they are stupid, they will believe it. By the same token, if you tell a student they are smart and gifted, they will believe that too.”

Here’s another quote, “Actions speak louder than words.”

That quote came to mind when Runnels recalled a letter she received in the mail a couple of weeks ago.

“The envelope was addressed to me, but had no return address,” she said. “After reading the letter, I noticed it had a Mobile postmark, but other than that I have no idea where it came from.”

Inside the envelope was a $5 bill and a hand-written anonymous letter which begins, “Many years ago I was given the responsibility to sell candy during recess. I was tempted every day to have just one piece of candy.”

The letter goes on to state that the writer resisted the temptation day after day until near the end of the school year, she took a piece of candy.

“The taste was sweet, but I have recently been reminded that I need to make amends for the wrong I’ve done. This incident came to mind. Please take this little token as that restitution and forgive the wrong of that little 8-year-old girl.”

Runnels said while the writer is unidentified, she believes the incident happened long ago. She also doesn’t know if the writer was a student at Elsanor or if Elsanor School was picked at random to receive the anonymous donation.

“For her to carry such a burden for so long and then decide to do something about it, I just couldn’t put the money away in the canteen,” Runnels said. “I believe there is a lesson to be learned from such an act and that it should be shared.”

So Runnels attached the bill to the note and had the note framed. When she shared the letter with her faculty and students, she said, there were few dry eyes in the room.

“I think many of our older students understood the message,” she said, “and for the younger students, it will be a lesson that can be learned for years to come.”

The truth of that lesson is in the quotes students recite at her school every day. That right is still right, even if the wrong happened long ago. That thoughts, words and actions speak to an individual’s character and a person’s character often shapes that person’s destiny. That actions should always be considerate of others and that the right attitude often makes all the difference.

And actions really do speak louder than words.