I recieved this in an email today and wanted to share it. It is long but worth a read.<P><BR>A story worth passing on:<P>>><P>>>A teacher in New York decided to honor each of her seniors in high<P>>>school by telling them the difference they each made.<P>>><P>>>She called each student to the front of the class, one at a time. First<P>>>she told each of them how they had made a difference to her and the<P>>>class. Then she presented each of them with a blue ribbon imprinted<P>>>with gold letters, which read, "Who I Am Makes a Difference."<P>>><P>>>Afterwards the teacher decided to do a class project to see what kind of<P>>>impact recognition would have on a community. She gave each of the<P>>>students three more ribbons and instructed them to go out and spread<P>>>this acknowledgment ceremony. Then they were to follow up on the<P>>>results, see who honored whom and report back to the class in about a<P>>>week.<P>>><P>>>One of the boys in the class went to a junior executive in a nearby<P>>>company and honored him for helping him with his career planning. He<P>>>gave him a blue ribbon and put it on his shirt. Then he gave him two<P>>>extra ribbons and said, "We're doing a class project on recognition, and<P>>>we'd like you to go out, find somebody to honor, give them a blue<P>>>ribbon, then give them the extra blue ribbon so they can acknowledge a<P>>>third person to keep this acknowledgment ceremony going. Then please<P>>>report back to me and tell me what happened.<P>>><P>>>Later that day the junior executive went in to see his boss, who had<P>>>been noted, by the way, as being kind of a grouchy fellow. He sat his<P>>>boss down and he told him that he deeply admired him for being a<P>>>creative genius. The boss seemed very surprised. The junior executive<P>>>asked him if he would accept the gift of the blue ribbon and would he<P>>>give him permission to put it on him. His surprised boss said, "Well,<P>>>sure." The junior executive took the blue ribbon and placed it right<P>>>on his boss's jacket above his heart. As he gave him the last extra<P>>>ribbon, he said, "Would you do me a favor? Would you take this extra<P>>>ribbon and pass it on by honoring somebody else? The young boy who<P>>>first gave me the ribbons is doing a project in school and we want to<P>>>keep this recognition ceremony going and find out how it affects people<P>>><P>>>That night the boss came home to his 14-year-old son and sat him down.<P>>>He said, "The most incredible thing happened to me today. I was in my<P>>>office and one of the junior executives came in and told me he admired<P>>>me and gave me a blue ribbon for being a creative genius. Imagine. He<P>>>thinks I'm a creative genius. Then he put this blue ribbon that says<P>>>'Who I Am Makes A Difference' on my jacket above my heart. He gave me<P>>>an extra ribbon and asked me to find somebody else to honor. As I was<P>>>driving home tonight, I started thinking about whom I would honor with<P>>>this ribbon and I thought about you. I want to honor you. My days are<P>>>really hectic and when I come home I don't pay alot of attention to you.<P>>>Sometimes I scream at you for not getting good enough grades in school<P>>>and for your bedroom being a mess, but somehow tonight, I just wanted to<P>>>sit here and, well, just let you know that you do make a difference to<P>>>me. Besides your mother, you are the most important person in my life.<P>>>You're a great kid and I love you!"<P>>><P>>>The startled boy started to sob and sob, and he couldn't stop crying.<P>>>His whole body shook. He looked up at his father and said through his<P>>>tears, "I was planning on committing suicide tomorrow, Dad, because I<P>>>didn't think you loved me. Now I know you care. This is the happiest<P>>>day I've known."<P>>><P>>>The boss went back to work a changed man. He was no longer a grouch but<P>>>made sure to let all his employees know that they made a difference.<P>>>The junior executive helped several other young people with career<P>>>planning and never forgot to let them know that they made a difference<P>>>in his life...one being the bosses son.<P>>><P>>>And the young boy and his classmates learned a valuable lesson. Who you<P>>>are DOES make a difference. You are under no obligation to send this on<P>>>to anyone...not to two people or to two hundred. As far as I am<P>>>concerned, you can delete it and move on to the next message. But if<P>>>you have anyone who means a lot to you, I encourage you to send them<P>>>this message and let them know. You never know what kind of difference<P>>>a little encouragement can make to a person. Send it to all of the<P>>>people who mean anything important to you, or send it to the one, two,<P>>>or three people who mean the most. Or just smile and know that someone<P>>>thinks that you are important, or you wouldn't have received this in the<P>>>first place.<P>>><P>>>Remember ..... I give you a blue ribbon.<P>>>Who you are makes a difference, and I wanted you to know that!<P>
