Comments on: thank you

By: Gary Walker

Gary Walker — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:43:35 +0000

This calls to mind something Becky frequently does. When she's had a miserable day of having to report to parents the outrageous crap their kids have tried to get away with she'll make a point of picking a couple of kids who have been the exact opposite–perfect, brilliant students–the kind that trick you into staying in the teaching racket–and sending a note to their parents to tell them how much their kids do to make every day more worthwhile. It is, arguably, a small thing, but I learned something important from it that informs my own goofy positivism–there may be nothing to the idea of Karma. There may or may not be a future judgement of us for our actions. What there is–what we can see–is a world which is unbalanced, and we have to keep balance and all that it implies–patience, mindfulness, connection–at the center of what we do.

Now I am, by nature, a cynic (as well as a great abuser of the em-dash). Balance does not come easily or readily for me, but I try to be mindful of it and its implications. Thanking someone is recognizing that they have used some amount of energy and transferred its products to you. It can be rote, but if we look at the etymology of the word we find that it originally meant something like “good thoughts” (thank and think have the same O.E. root). When we thank someone we are, in a fashion, pledging to give that energy back to them in the form of good thoughts.

Thanks for writing this piece, 'Sted. Good stuff and well worth the reading and thinking.

By: Mordaxus

Mordaxus — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:03:43 +0000

You're welcome. Thanks for writing.

By: Ned Morrell

Ned Morrell — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:43:39 +0000

And thank you for saying it!

I've found it's definitely worth assuming the best rather than the worst. Sometimes, wrongly assuming the best will bring out the best in them in future.