Who I Am Makes a Difference
Who you are really does make a difference, and if you don't believe that, just read on.....
A teacher in New York decided to honour each of her high school seniors 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 to 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 sort of impact this kind of recognition would have on a community. She gave each of the students three more ribbons and instructed them to go out and spread this acknowledgement ceremony. Then they were to follow up on the results, see who honoured 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 honoured 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 someone else to honour, give that person a blue ribbon, then give them the extra blue ribbon so they can acknowledge a third person to keep this acknowledgement 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 favour? Would you take this extra ribbon and pass it on by honouring 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. Can you imagine that? He thinks I am a creative genius. Then he put this blue ribbon that says "Who I Am Makes a Difference" on my jacket above my heart. Then he gave me an extra ribbon and asked me to find someone else to honour. As I was driving home tonight, I started thinking about whom I would honour with this ribbon and I thought about you. I want to honour 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 really do make a difference to me. In fact, besides your Mom, you are the most important person in my life. You're a great kid and I love you!"
The startled boy started to cry, and 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 heart-felt 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 really did make 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. The young boy and his classmates learned a valuable lesson. Who you are DOES make a difference.
If you got this, it is that someone cares for you and because, probably, there's someone you care about. If you'd like, you can send it to all of the people who mean something to you, or send it to the one, two, or three people who mean the most to you. I have sent this only to a very select few. You can smile and know that someone out here thinks YOU are important, or you wouldn't have received this in the first place. Remember that!
I give you a Blue Ribbonto pass on.
