dorothy smith asked:
There are moments in life when you feel grateful. You say ‘Thank You’ instinctively. It is as if you accepted the favor just because you wanted to thank the person. Later on, you feel that the ‘thank you’ did not properly express the feeling of gratitude that you wanted these two magical words to express. That is when you feel that the words flatter, but only to deceive.
‘Thank You’ completes the magical trio of polite expressions that we are taught in our child. We are told that we must be grateful for everything we receive, even if it is basic needs like food and water. We must be thankful to a long list of people starting with God and spanning our entire lifetime. There are times when you get tired of being thankful; there are times when you want to throw caution to the winds, stand up erect and say, ‘I did it out of my own ability and I’m thankful to no one”.
However, there are times when you cannot croak out a ‘Thank You’ no matter how eloquent you are. Then you are either dumb-founded in gratitude or have taken the person for granted to an extent when you receive favors as tributes. There are also times when you feel no ‘Thank You’ would be enough and any effort made in that direction would be blasphemy. The two magical words fall short in their magic appeal and fall short of expressing your heart-felt gratitude.
Have you ever thought of thanking your parents? Very few people have mustered the courage to even realize their debt to their parents, let alone thank them for all that they have done for them. Really, thanking them is no mean task. How can you thank them for the sleepless nights they have spent by your bedside when you could not open your eyes in fever? How can you thank them for buying you a new dress just because you demanded it, when they know that it is well out of your reach? How can you thank them for the little sacrifices that they have done for you, over the years? Remember how you snatched the remote from your dad because you favorite game was up? Did you thank him for rising over a small indulgence so that you may be happy?
What of your beloved? Did you ever think of thanking your love for just being there? We do not. We take their love for granted and never feel the need to say ‘Thank You’. So many bridges could have been built if only we had the sincerity to turn around and express our appreciation.
We do not thank our teachers for what they have done or us. They have helped us build our lives and our livelihood. They were not really expecting a ‘Thank You’ when they taught you lessons that would one day make you the person that you are. It was our duty to thank them, but we, selfish mortals, forgot everything conveniently when our turn came to reach out.
Friends, this life is too short to reach out to everyone to whom we are indebted. What we can do is express our gratitude to the people who are around us. They are a part of our lives and they make up our support system. If we don’t appreciate that, the system may one day buckle under the burden of ingratitude
