IJMC - Who You Are Makes A Difference

I don't care if this one's true or not, the message is the same. Little 
things can mean a lot, and doing good is good. G'night is good.   -dave









Who You Are Makes 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.  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 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 3 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
permisson 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 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--