Sunday, July 11, 2010

Rex Barker here with

The Paper Clip...


Georgia, a friend of my wife's, was recently divorced and trying to raise her two sons when the Gulf War broke out. She heard about soldiers in the service who had no family and needed pen pals. Letters addressed to "Any Soldier" were distributed by commanding officers who noticed any soldiers getting little or no mail. Georgia wrote to 25 such soldiers almost daily, most of them men.

Keeping up with 25 pen pals on a daily basis almost consumed Georgia's time and talents. She sent poems, little stories, and words of hope and encouragement. When there were time constraints, she would write one letter and copy it for everyone. Greetings were sent whenever she knew about a special event, like a birthday.

One day, Georgia received a letter from a soldier that was depressed and discouraged. She pondered as to how she could help lift his spirits. It was then that she noticed that at work there were paper clips of various colors. Georgia took one of the yellow paper clips and photo copied it in the palm of her hand. She sent this picture with the paper clip with the following message:

"This yellow paper clip that you see in my hand represents a hug that I am sending to you. You can carry this paper clip in a pocket or anywhere, and whenever you feel down, you can just touch and hold it and know that somebody cares about you, and would give you a hug if she were there." Georgia sent a copy of this picture along with a paper clip and the message to each of her other correspondents. After the war ended, Georgia received one of the pictures of her hand holding the yellow paper clip, and on the back were over 150 signatures of people that had been given her "hug."

During the years, Georgia named other paper clips. Pink came to mean a kiss, green was for good luck, and so on. Years later, Georgia was giving a class as part of a seminar for positive thinking. She shared with the members of the class her paper clip symbolism, and made a bracelet of multicolored paper clips for each of them. One of the women exclaimed, "So you're the one!" The class member told Georgia that she was visiting her brother and needed something to hold papers together. She had noticed a yellow paper clip on the refrigerator held there with a magnet. She borrowed the paper clip for her papers. When the brother saw it, he grabbed it and scolded her, and told her never to touch the yellow paper clip again. Now she knew why.

No one will never know how far her message has spread, nor how many lives have been touched by a simple yellow paper clip

Reminding you that kind deeds have legs they have a will of their own, You never know how far an act of kindness can go. It can stimulate others and literally change history. So let's start changing a bit of history, one act at a time.

11 comments:

Twisted Fencepost said...

That's a great story, Patty!
I will definitely remember it.

DeniseinVA said...

What a wonderful post, thank you Patty.

Thanks also for stopping by and wishing me a happy birthday the other day. I appreciated it very much.

An English Girl Rambles

Ruth's Photo Blog said...

Wonderful idea.Thanks for sharing this .
Blessings,Ruth

Beth Niquette said...

Wow--what a great idea. My goodness--such a small thing, yet such a HUGE thing.

A yellow paperclip from me to you, sweet Friend!

Arkansas Patti said...

Absolutely a beautiful story. It is amazing how far kindness can travel.

Cheryl said...

This story was so inspiring, we all can do one small thing to help make a bigger thing!

Terra said...

This is a Strong story, and we sometimes do something not knowing how helpful it is. How great that this lady did so much good for our soldiers, using simple colored paper clips.

Shionge said...

What a beautiful story indeed Patty and yes, little gesture goes a long long way and it does make a difference to someone's life.

Hey, by the way - Happy Anniversary :D

Reanaclaire said...

that is touching.. creating an art of love is very simple .. but it touches many lives with this simple thought..
thanks for the inspiration of the day..

Priyanka Khot said...

What a wonderful story. Thank you so much for sharing.

I am sorry that I have not been posting a comment on your blog for some time now. My new job has kept me a little busy and out of the blogosphere.

Hopefully I'll be more regular now.

Hope Abe and you are keeping good health.

Best Regards,
Priyanka Khot

Clytie said...

A wonderful and beautiful story.

A yellow paperclip to you, my friend!!!