You Make A Difference

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 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
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!


~Author Unknown~

We all make a difference, what kind of difference do you make?

reply to post by happykat39


Dude that was so awesome. I was crying like a baby.

I just try to be nice to people and try to help my friends and family whenever possible.

What a truly inspiring and heartfelt story!

reply to post by happykat39


Wow, fiction or not this was powerful! Thanks so much for posting. I don't want to see this deleted, so please, if you took this from a different website you need to post that web address.

Thanks again. Most moving read I've had in a while.

Originally posted by jiggerj
reply to post by happykat39

 

Wow, fiction or not this was powerful! Thanks so much for posting. I don't want to see this deleted, so please, if you took this from a different website you need to post that web address.

Thanks again. Most moving read I've had in a while.

It didn't come from a website directly. It came in an e-mail from MOUNTAIN WINGS, but the actual material is in the public domain so it shouldn't be a problem.

Originally posted by happykat39

Originally posted by jiggerj
reply to post by happykat39

 

Wow, fiction or not this was powerful! Thanks so much for posting. I don't want to see this deleted, so please, if you took this from a different website you need to post that web address.

Thanks again. Most moving read I've had in a while.

It didn't come from a website directly. It came in an e-mail from MOUNTAIN WINGS, but the actual material is in the public domain so it shouldn't be a problem.

Oh that's good. I sent it to my daughter.