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 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 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?
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
one people or to one hundred. As far as I am concerned, you can
move on to another page. 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 that they make a difference in your life. You never know what
kind of difference a little encouragement can make to a
person.
I give you this blue ribbon. Who you are makes a difference,
And I wanted you to know.