A teacher in New York decided to honor
each of her
seniors in high school by telling them
the difference they
each made. Using a process developed
by Helice Bridges
of Del Mar, California, she called each
student to the front of
the class, one at a time. First, she told
them how the
student made a difference to her and the
class.
Then she presented each of them
with a blue ribbon imprinted with white
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 bodyshook.
He looked up at his father
and said through his tears, "I was planning
on committing
suicide, Dad, because I didn't think you
loved me.
Now I don't need to."
WHO I AM MAKES A DIFFERENCE BECAUSE
I AM A PERSON WITH A HEART,
AND FEELINGS AND WITH A NEED TO BE ACCEPTED.
If you have anyone who means a lot to
you, I encourage
you to send them 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 or two 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 gave you a blue ribbon!
Who you are makes
a difference! And I wanted you to know
you mean a lot to me!
You make a Difference !
PS: I give each and everyone of
you a blue ribbon,
indeed you are special.
Now go on out there and keep the flow
going.
Walk In Peace And In Sunshine.
AcadianRose
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