LIVING FAST, MISSING MUCH

Lately the most common words, written and spoken, are sweeping ones like: "Terror attack!" "Environmental Disaster!" "Plunge in Market Value!" In contrast, there are smaller more intimate words like "Thank you."

Thank yous often suffer from perfunctory over-use; or, more likely, thoughtless under-use. Still, it requires only the slightest reflection to understand how powerful and nourishing these small words can be to their recipients.

We consider all the nameless, faceless providers whose services are taken for granted. Bus drivers...cabbies ...train conductors...delivery personnel...sales staff...cops on the beat...checkout people in the stores. The list is long, but the words are easy. Funny, and a little cruel, why we don't use them more often.

Dig deeper and there are other lists. People from our past we've used up and moved on. Can there still be a moment when a simple thank you is in order? Surely in the case of long ago teachers...sisters...priests...rabbis...
ministers ...schoolmates...scout masters...den mothers...crossing guards.. There's no expiration date on gratitude.

Highest on the hierarchy of thank you lists is family. Rarely seen aunts...uncles...cousins...siblings. And then, of course, the two people to whom we owe are finest thanks: Mom and Dad. If they are still with us, this is the appointed day and the appointed time. If they are not, we have a choice. If there is a God in our heart, speak to them through Him. If not, perhaps a special rose at the grave of their earthly remains.

Like breathing, we take the most foundational things for granted. An error of epic proportions! While we can't re-write the words in the daily news, surely we can orchestrate these two tiny words into a rhapsody of respect. For all those whose lives we have hurried past much too quickly....