WHO I AM 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. 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 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 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 surprisedboss 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,
"Dad, earlier tonight I sat
in my room and wrote a letter to you and Mom explaining why I had killed
myself and asking you to forgive me. I was going to commit suicide tonight
after you were asleep. I just didn't think that you cared at all. The
letter is upstairs. I don't think I need it after all." His father walked
upstairs and found a heartfelt letter full of anguish and pain. The
envelope was addressed,
"Mom and Dad."
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 boss's son.
And the young boy and his classmates learned a valuable lesson. Who you
are DOES make 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 him or her this message 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!!
_______
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