THANK YOU !!!

That’s a simple two-word phrase but then, how often do we really say it? And how promptly do we say it? I receive a surprise gift from my friend and he insists I open it in his presence. “Wowwwwwwwww, this looks very lovely.” 

I am very excited about it and can’t wait to see what’s in that beautifully-wrapped parcel, I even start to feel around it trying to guess what’s in there; he loves the look of excitement on my face and is excitedly expecting to see my reaction to the gift.  And then,………………………………….. …


my countenance changes, all excitement gone.

“What’s the problem dear? Don’t you like the gift?”

“I don’t! What lady will like a dress twice her size? We’ve been dating for how long? 2 months now? And you don’t know your lady’s size yet?” And then I walk out leaving him with his gift.

You know how many other gifts I should expect from him after that scenario? Zero!

And really, why should I expect more? After all, I never appreciated the first one. And what would it have cost me to show appreciation? Just a little moving of my lips to say this simple phrase – Thank you.

This issue of non-appreciation of kind gestures has ruined some beautiful relationships. A friend goes out of his way to please the other party and then gets rebuffed and that is the beginning of the end of the friendship. A husband sees a very lovely necklace set on display at a jewelry store, he uses the last money on him at that moment to purchase it for his wife and then gets a “can’t you see it’s a fake?” remark from her and that marks the end of him buying her gifts. We also know the very commonly-told tale of a lady that missed the keys to a brand new car, i-phone and engagement ring just because they were all put in a ‘miserable’ loaf of bread and given to her by her fiancé-to-be, of course she lost the guy as a result. And the list continues.

What is sad to note is that in each of these scenarios, a “thank you” in place of those remarks and reactions would have simply settled the matter. But we are often too selfish – considering ourselves alone- that we do not see how our actions are hurting the other person. Instead of making the giving party feel slighted by our reactions, we can at least try to be appreciative to the person right there and then- at least that will mean we value the giver even if we don’t value his gift. This will make him or her feel very appreciated and will be spurred to do even more next time and this will most certainly strengthen the relationship.

So let’s start appreciating those little kind gestures from our loved ones- even if we don’t really value them, a simple “thank you” always does the trick. Who knows, next time they might actually come up with much better gifts and gestures which we will really need and value.