Please and Thank you
2 words that are sometimes taken forgranted, but both meanings when said create an instant gratification to one’s day. Saying "please" not only presents polite and curt, saying "please" tends to be the most repetative and overused word with asking favors directions and the like and yet, its meaning flags an instantanious essence of being honored and respected despite how big or small a request may seem to be.
Saying thank you seem to do just the trick for more favors and requests that need to be accomplished. And yet, the word ‘thank you’ may also appear to be overused and abused when the requests are always directed to one’s continuous gain and compensation. Thank you does not mean "thank you" in its true form when the favor that was done was completed in a heartless task. Someone may seem to be saying it just for the heck of it, with an almost sarcastic manner… So as a result, to say thank you in that situation, would really mean "no thank you at all".
My job entails a lot of pleases and thank you’s…as the pleases are used for a few requests, a need to genuinely say thank you would just be an icing on the cake. It is hard for me to fully appreciate a "thank you" and place it in my cake, when the person thanking me is not at all genuine.
Last week, my preception of receiving thank you changed. This is all what matters to me after working on a complicated social and nursing case…how many heartful thank you’s have I actually received? The odd part is I have received this in a most unexpected way. Not only was I caught off guard, but indeed was amazed on how one can truly assert it when they actually do mean it.
A young guy came up to my office unscheduled and said "Jeunesse I need your help, I am filthy, haven’t had the shower in days, have been sleeping in the front lawn, using the washrooms accross my home (in the mall), I am locked out of the house by my Landlord (who I think is very devious!) and have no access to clean clothes. This lad has succombed to drugs and have failed to show up on a few of our therapy sessions… (I was sceptic about giving my generous help to this client because of his lifestyle choice of repeated drug use) And yet, something twicked in my inner soul…what if this was my brother (sorry jake!) would I be able to handle dismissing his plea? I did what I had to do, few calls to a few offices, access to emergency fund…a recreation pass to gain access to a public shower (for his hygiene), a schedule for foodbank, and assigning him to a community worker for housing support…. and yes, this all led to a genuine and whole hearted "Thank you" from someone, who I was sceptic to provide services in the beginning…
A young guy like him can leave a brute, devious, coniving, scandalous impression in the surface. And yet his manners of showing appreciation is proven to exude, when needed and when appropriately called for. It only goes to show that saying please and thank you only calls for a moment, but the results of feeling acknowledged and appreciated are prolonged.
