A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 note and asked. "Who would like this $20?". Hands started  going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this." He crumpled the $20 note up and asked. "Who still wants it?". Hands were up again.

"Well, what if I do this?" He dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, you'll have learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the note, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by our  decisions and circumstances and we feel worthless.

Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who love you. The worth of our lives comes, not in what we do or who we know, but by ...WHO WE ARE. You are special - don't ever forget it."