Chapter 1 - Who You Are Makes A Difference

Who you are does make a difference

A teacher in New York decided to honor each of her seniors in High
School by telling them the difference each of them had 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 blue 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 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 for 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 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 am a creative genius! Then he put a 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
hectic and when I come home, I do not 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. 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 could not 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 taken my life, and I asked you to forgive me. I was going to commit suicide tonight after you were asleep. I just did not 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 boss went back to work a changed man. He was no longer a grouch,
but made sure to let all of 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' son. In addition, the young boy and
his classmates learned a valuable lesson: Who you are DOES make a
difference.

You are under no obligation to pass this on to anyone.... not to two
people, or to two hundred. As far as I am concerned, you can forget it
and move on. On the other hand, if you want, you could send it to all
of the people who mean something to you, or send it to the one, two, or
three people who mean the most.

On the other hand, just smile and know that I think that you are
important, or you would not have received this in the first place. Who
you are does make a difference, and I wanted you to know that.

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