blue ribbon

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 one 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
wouldn'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 a
difference.