you make a difference

-You make a difference!!

A teacher in New York decided to honor each of her seniors in High School by
telling them the difference each of them had 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 blue 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 for 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 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 I asked 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 boss went back to work a changed man. He was no longer a grouch,
but made sure to let all of 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' 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 pass this on to anyone....... Not to
two people, or to two hundred.

As far as I am concerned, you can forget it and move on. On the other hand,
if you want, you could 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.

Or, just smile and know that someone thinks that you are important, or you
wouldn't have received this in the first place.

Who you are does make a difference, and I wanted you to know that.

Isn't this a wonderful story? I'm passing the blue ribbon to you. For who
YOU are does make a difference, too.