To all my wonderful reader's a story for you.
Yes, Who You Are Makes 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 studentm 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,
seem 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."
Author unknown.
Without you the readers this blog would not go anywhere or inspire anyone.
So whether you think so or not, you really do make a difference to me.
