I received this in an email from a dear friend(Thank you Jen you mean the world!!!!) And I wanted to share it. The graphic above is my own creation. I have and will continue to give it to those that make a difference in my life, and I ask that in an online experiment take it freely and pass it to those you know who make a difference just by being who they are. I would appreciate either a link back to my page or an email just letting me know what difference this may have made in your lives or theirs. Take this ribbon and walk the world with it...and read the story below to see the impact it can have when given in love and friendship.....always the light and YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!! Aurora/Jan

Who You Are Makes A Difference... A teacher in New York decided to honor each of her seniors in high school by telling them the difference they each made. Using a process developed by Helice Bridges of Del Mar, California, she called each student to the front of the class, one at a time.First she told them how the student made a difference to her and the class. Then she presented each of them with a blue ribbonimprinted with gold letters which read, "Who I Am Makes a Difference." Afterwards the teacher decided to do a class project to see what kind of impact recognition would have on a community. She gave each of the students three more ribbons and instructed them to go out and spread this acknowledgment ceremony. Then they were to follow up on the results, see who honored whom and report back to the class in about a week. One of the boys in the class went to a junior executive in a nearby company and honored him for helping him with his caree planning. He gave him a blue ribbon and put it on his shirt. Then he gave him two extra ribbons, and said, "We're doing a class project on recognition, and we'd like you to go out, find somebody to honor, give them a blue ribbon, then give them the extra blue ribbon so they can acknowledge a third person to keep this acknowledgment ceremony going. Then please report back to me and tell me what happened." Later that day the junior executive went in to see his boss, who had been noted, by the way, as being kind of a grouchy fellow. He sat his boss down and he told him that he deeply admired him for being a creative genius. The boss seemed very surprised. The junior executive asked him if he would accept the gift of the blue ribbon and would he give him permission to put it on him. His surprsied boss said,"Well, sure." The junior executive took the blue ribbon and placed it right on his boss's jacket above his heart. As he gave him the last extra ribbon, he said, "Would you do me a favor? would you take this extra ribbon and pass it on by honoring somebody else? The young boy who first gave me the ribbons is doing a project in school and we want to keep this recognition ceremony going and find out how it affects people." That night the boss came home to his 14-year-old son and sat him down. He said, "The most incredible thing happened to me today. I was in my office and one of the junior executives came in and told me he admired me and gave me a blue ribbon for being a creative genius. Imagine. He thinks I'm a creative genius. Then he put this blue ribbon that says 'Who I Am Makes A Difference' on my jacket above my heart. He gave me an extra ribbon and asked me to find somebody else to honor. As I was driving home tonight, I started thinking about whom I would honor with this ribbon and I thought about you. I want to honor you. "My days are really hectic and when I come home I don't pay a lot of attention to you. Sometimes I scream at you for not getting good enough grades in school and for your bedroom being a mess, but somehow tonight, I just wanted to sit here and, well, just let you know that you do make a difference to me. besides your mother, you are the most important person in my life. You're a great kid and I love you!" The startled boy started to sob and sob, and he couldn't stop crying. His whole body shook. He looked up at his father and said through his tears, "I was planning on committing suicide tomorrow, Dad, because I didn't think you loved me. Now I don't need to." -Helice Bridges

This story and the ribbon above has made and incredible difference in my life...I was fighting with my husband and neither one of us knew why....I sent him that ribbon (aye a bit sad that email is used for communication but it worked..the things we couldn't say face to face were said by that ribbon) It made all the difference...it opened up the lines of communications that had been closed for a time...short to some but to me and the one that is my heart it was too long...to far apart and knowing that he mattered brought us together again...Please....take this...send it to a friend a lover a loved one an enemy...those that mean nothing, used to mean something, might someday mean the world to you and let them know...they make a difference....you will never know unless you try....if you want it to work you MUST work at it