Who You Are Makes A Difference..

    A teacher in New York decided to honor each of her seniors in high sc=
hool
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 fro=
nt
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 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 stude=
nts
3 more ribbons and instructed them to go out and spread this acknowledgme=
nt
ceremony.  Then they were to follow up on the results, see who honored wh=
om
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 gav=
e
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 te=
ll
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 do=
wn
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 permisson to put=
 it
on him.  His surprised boss said, "Well, sure."  The junior executive too=
k
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 els=
e?
 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 affec=
ts
people.=94
    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 co=
me
home I don't pay a lot of attention to you.  Sometimes I scream at you fo=
r
not getting good enough grades in school and for your bedroom being a mes=
s,
but somehow tonight, I just wanted to sit here and, well, just let you kn=
ow
that you do make a difference to me.  Besides your mother, you are the mo=
st
important person in my life.  You're a great kid and I love you!"
    The startled boy started to sob and couldn't stop crying.  His whole =
body
shook.  He looked up at his father and said through his tears, "I was
planning on committing suicide tomorrow, Dad, because I didn't think you
loved me.  Now I don't need to."
     --Helice Bridges--

You are under no obligation to send this on to two people or to two hundr=
ed.
 But if you have anyone who means a lot to=20
you, I encourage you to send them this message and let them know.  You ne=
ver
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 give you a blue ribbon.  Who you are makes a
difference!  And I wanted you to know you mean a lot to me!       You mak=
e a
Difference!
                                _____________________
                                |  *************************  |
                                |                                         |
                                |                                         |
                                |           Who I Am          |
                                |             Makes a          |
                                |         DIFFERENCE      |
                                |                                       |
                                \                                        /
                                  \                                  /
                            \                          /
                                      \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Don (67, 11) & Harriet (CG)