Can you 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 mylife. 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 took 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 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".
Isn't this a wonderful story? I'm passing the blue ribbon to you, for
who YOU are does make a difference, too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W89hnOh0RSoMusic By Kenny G.
After a year of living between two homes my daughter and I are going home.
I do this with excitement of having our family together again. I do this with sadness of what the two of us will miss when we move back into the home with my husband and son. This past year has been difficult only seeing the guys (hubby and son) on the weekends but the things we have all gained are immeasurable. We have gained strength as a family and as individuals. It took a huge leap of faith in knowing this would provide a greater good. My daughter and I have learned to depend on each other, we have shared and laughed, and we have also had difficult times. I am proud of my daughter for the hard work she has done to finish school early with an early graduation. Even more than her schooling she has grown as a person. She will turn 18 in just a few months and she is one in a million.
Why did we do what we did? Here is a portion of our story...
Going Home
It was almost a year ago that our family took a leap of faith; we decided that we would make a physical division in half.
As you know our family has been and continues to go through a lot. Nicks accident left us all feeling somewhat broken but still lifted up. It was the summer of 2004 where we all lost ourselves into the healing of our son and brother. Our oldest son had just married his sweetheart in the temple two weeks before the accident. One Saturday, we got a phone call that has changed our lives forever. We didn't know it then but we were about to see a miracle take place in our family over the next two years. Nicks recovery has been all consuming and left my daughter feeling a little bit pushed to the side, as any child would feel. Sadly her performance began to decline in many areas of her life, which we did not immediately see. It got to the point where we were looking into other schools, a place where she could be someone other than Nick's little sister. Nick is a great kid as anyone would tell you and he carries a spirit larger than life. My daughter has always lived in his shadow to some degree and with his accident and full time care left her feeling very insignificant. We had already purchased a second home as an investment and retirement home. Nicks recovery was well on his way and a break from his primary caregiver, me is something we also thought might benefit him as he needed to learn to live independently for the sake of his future.
With a lot of prayer as a family, we decided to test the waters in April of 2006 when my daughter and I and her friend, packed up and moved about four hours away from our Primary residence... I began to see little glimpses of my daughter again as we returned in the fall without her friend this time. Our daughter was forced to discover who she really was in a school where she was an unknown. There is nothing like dropping a child who has become what others wanted her to be into a totally foreign place to see who she really is. She has excelled in ways I never imagined, and our relationship is rock solid. She has learned that is can live without being in a shadow. She has learned do much about being independent of the good opinion of other people. Together we have gained a strength that could not have developed without being on our own.
The journey hasn't been easy. It is difficult giving up the primary care of my son who has taught me so much. Nick has survived without me hovering over him. I think my hubby has come to appreciate me in ways he couldn't have having me right next to him day after day. We have managed to see the other half of our family every weekend except for two when the weather made it difficult to travel.
With all of my daughter great progress she has completed her graduation requirement early and we will be going home ahead of schedule. As I make ready for the move I am most of all grateful that we had then means to make all of this possible. I am thankful that we had the courage to take this leap of faith believing it would help us all to grow. While I think of returning I think of the things that will never be the same. My daughter and I had a few rituals that will be taken away as we move back. Wednesday became our movie afternoon. Our cleaning day is Wednesday after our movie etc. etc. My son and husband have learned to depend on each other as well.
A week ago I found myself questioning if this was the right thing to do, move her back. This past week something happened that allowed me to see my daughters' inner strength and maturity. I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for answering my prayers and allowing me to know what to do.
Tomorrow we will move back and we will be a family together again.
FairLDS.org
LDS.org
MormonWiki
Mormon Encyclopedia
FARMS
_
I am really sick of tired of some people.
