~ Making
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. She called each student to the front of the class, one
at a time. First she told each of them how they had made a difference to her and the
class. Then she presented each of them with a blue ribbon imprinted 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 new acknowledgment ceremony. Then they were
to follow up on the results to 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 career 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 surprised 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? Could 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
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 know you
care. This is the happiest day I've known."
The boss went back to work a changed man. He was no longer a grouch but made sure to
let all his employees know that they made a difference. The junior executive helped
several other young people with career planning and never forgot to let them know that
they made a difference in his life... one being the bosses son. And the young boy and his
classmates learned a valuable lesson.
Who you are DOES make a difference. You are under no obligation to send this on to
anyone... not to two people or to two hundred. As far as I am concerned, you can delete it
and move on to the next message. But if you have anyone who means a lot to you, I
encourage you to send this message to them and let them know. You never know what kind of
difference a little encouragement can make to a person. Send it to all of the people who
mean anything important to you, or send it to the one, two, or three people who mean the
most. Or just smile and know that someone thinks that you are important, or you wouldn't
have received this in the first place.
Remember that! I GIVE YOU A BLUE RIBBON! Who you are makes a difference, and I wanted
you to know that!
from AdamsCathy@AOL.com
Send Mail to pbower@neo.lrun.com
