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 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 the 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 on my jacket that says, "Who I Am Makes a Difference", right
above my heart. He gave me an extra
ribbon and asked me to find somebody else to honor. So 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 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.
WHO YOU ARE DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE!