Make Your Difference Make Your Meaning

I saved a poem that was written some years ago as the winning poem in a contest by Parade magazine for Make A Difference Day (at least I think it was Parade). I have surfed the Internet for the name of the author to see if there is anything that would require permission to print it and couldn’t find anything specifically tying the author and poem on the Net. It is yellowed with age as it hangs on my fridge. (Submitted by Jo Henderson, Lubbock Dawners)

Make Your Difference Make Your Meaning

I look out through my window
At the world I’ve always known
I think about my blessings,
The things I call my own

I’ve been given many gifts,

I’ve been given sorrows, too.
But we’re not weighed by what we have,
But rather by what we do.

If all the world’s a stage,

Then they judge us by our role.
But we don’t read from a final script,
The part’s ours to control

So here’s your chance for an impression,

A chance to show you care.
If you never have any footprints
Will they know that you walked there?

For satisfaction, meaning, community,

Repayment, virtue or fame,
Give credit to your existence,
And meaning to your name.

--Mark Diffenderfer