A teacher in New York decided to honor each of her seniors in high school by telling them the difference they each made. Using a process developed by Helice Bridges of Del Mar, California, she called each student to the front of the class, on at a time. First she told them how the student 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.”

     Afterward, 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 and report back to the class in about a week.

     One of the boys went to a junior executive in a nearby company and honored him for helping him with his career planning. He gave him the blue ribbon, 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, and give them a blue ribbon, then give them the extra 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 to his boss, a grouchy fellow. He sat his boss down and told him he deeply admired him for being a creative genius, and then asked him to acknowledge someone else with the remaining ribbon.

     The boss was greatly surprised to receive the honor. That night he came home and said to his 14-year-old son, “The most incredible thing happened to me today. 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! I started thinking about whom I would honor and I thought about you. I want to honor you. My days are 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 grades or leaving your room in a mess...but somehow, tonight, I just wanted to let you know that you do make a difference. 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 couldn’t stop crying. His whole body shook. He looked up through his tears and said, “I was planning on committing suicide tomorrow, Dad, because I didn’t think you loved me. Now I don’t need to.”

“Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act.”

Proverbs 3:27