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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 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 sob, and he 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."