A teacher at a certain school decided to honor each of her graduating students by telling them the difference they had made in her life as a teacher.
She called them one by one to the front. She began by telling each one the difference they had made for her and for the others in the class.
Then she gave each one a blue ribbon, engraved with golden letters that read: 'Who I Am Makes a Difference'.
Later, she decided to propose a project for the class, so they could see the impact that positive recognition can have on a community.
She gave each student three more blue ribbons, with the same inscription, and instructed them to give the ribbons to people they knew and thought were playing a different role. But they should follow up on the results to see who would honor whom, and report those results to the class at the end of a week.
One of the students sought out an office boy from a nearby company, and honored him for having helped him one day. He gave him a blue ribbon, pinning it to his shirt. Having done that, he gave him the other two ribbons saying:
'We are developing a project at school about recognition, and I would like you to choose someone to honor, by giving them a blue ribbon, and another one, so that they, in turn, can also honor another person, and keep this process alive. But afterwards, please, tell me what you notice has happened.
Later that day, the office boy approached his boss, who was known, by the way, as a difficult person to deal with. He had his boss sit down, told him that he admired him very much for being a creative genius.
The boss seemed very surprised. The subordinate asked him if he would accept a blue ribbon and if he would allow him to put it on him. The surprised boss said: 'Of course.' Affixing the ribbon to his lapel pocket, right above the heart, the office boy gave him another blue ribbon just like it and asked:
'Take this other ribbon and pass it on to someone you also admire very much.'
And he explained about the boy's class project who had given the ribbon to him.
At the end of the day, when the boss arrived home, he called his 14-year-old son and had him sit down in front of him. And he said:
'The most incredible thing happened to me today. I was in my office and one of the office boys subordinates came and gave me a blue ribbon for my creative genius. Imagine that! He thinks I'm a genius! So he put this ribbon on me that says 'Who I Am Makes a Difference'. He gave me another ribbon asking me to choose some other person that I thought was worthy of the same recognition. When I was coming home, while driving, I was thinking about who I would choose and I thought of you.'
I would like to honor you. My days are very chaotic and when I come home, I don't pay much attention to you. Sometimes I yell at you for not getting better grades at school, and for your room always being a mess. But for some reason, today, now, I felt like having you in front of me. You know, simply, to tell you, that you make a big difference to me. Besides your mother, you are the most important person in my life. You are a great son, and I love you!'
The boy, taken by surprise, burst into uncontrollable tears. He looked at his father and spoke through tears:
'Dad, a few hours ago I was in my room and I wrote a goodbye letter addressed to you and Mom, explaining why I had decided to commit suicide and asking you for forgiveness'. I was planning to kill myself while you were sleeping. I thought you didn't care about me. The letter is up there, but I think I won't need it anymore. The father went up there and found a letter full of anguish and pain.
The man went to work the next day completely changed. He was no longer grumpy and made a point of making sure each of his subordinates knew the difference each one made. The office boy who started it all helped many others and never forgot to tell them that each one had made a difference in his life...
The consequence of this project is that each of the students who participated in it learned a great lesson. That 'Who You Are Does Indeed Make a Great Difference'.
You are important. Who you are in my life makes a great difference, and I wanted you to know that.
Here is your blue ribbon!
Text sent by Alessandro Macari .
alessandro_macari@hotmail.com