“Gratuitous gratitude.” That’s what a friend of mine calls what he sees as a disturbing modern phenomenon. “This morning,” he complained, “I held the door for a young woman pulling a little suitcase. She turned and said, ‘Thank you sooo much!’ A simple thanks or even just a smile would have sufficed. But she made such a big thing out of something so small that it struck me as insincere. I mean, how does she react when someone does something really nice for her?”
I refrained from saying he should be sooo thankful for having nothing more to complain about than how others say thanks. And my friend does revel in being a bit of a curmudgeon. He appears to enjoy a degree of contentment in being a malcontent.
But later I thought more about his perspective as the recipient of “gratuitous gratitude.” In fact, isn’t the feeling someone gets from saying thanks as important as or even more important than the pleasure of being thanked? Gratitude is a two-way street. It has the double advantage of gratifying both the thanker and the thankee.
Just on cue a great link popped up on my Facebook feed. Definitely watch it, then ask yourself who would it make you feel good to thank… and do it. Share below if you like.
And before I go, it makes me feel really good to thank all of you sooo much for being fans of Guideposts.
