The Blue Ribbon that Saved a Teen’s Life-Reported to be Truth!
Summary of eRumor:
The story of a teacher who decided to honor each of her students by telling them what a difference each of them had made in her life. In a short ceremony she presented each of them with a blue ribbon printed with the words “Who I am Makes A Difference.” Then she gave three of the blue ribbons to each student and told them to do the same encouragement ceremony with three people. One of the students gave a ribbon to a junior executive who had helped him in career planning. He also gave the junior executive two ribbons to give away in the same fashion. The junior executive gave one to his grouchy boss, telling him he admired his creative genius. He also gave him the remaining ribbon asking if there was someone he would want to honor. The boss took it home and presented it to his 14-year old son, apologizing for some of his failures as a father and telling the son that he had made a difference in his life. The son said he had just decided to commit suicide and had written a suicide letter, which was still upstairs in the house.
The Truth:
This is a pictorial dramatization of a story that was featured in the best-selling book Chicken Soup For the Soul.
The account was written by Helice “Sparky” Bridges, the founder of Difference Makers International and the originator of “Who I am Makes a Difference” and the “One Minute Blue Ribbon Acknowledgement.”
Bridges told TruthOrFiction.com that this story of the boy who was saved from suicide was told to her first-hand by the high school teacher from New York who first presented the “Who I am Makes a Difference” ribbons to her class. Bridges does not recall, however, the teacher’s name and does not know the identities of the boy or his father.
Bridges said that the Blue Ribbon program has now impacted more than 30-million people worldwide.
The story was made into a film, which was aired on Pax TV.
CLICK HERE For more information about Difference Makers International and the One Minute Blue Ribbon Acknowledgement.
Updated 6/3/08