Voicing Our Thanks

When I was in college, I enjoyed listening to recordings of live shows by the comedian Steve Martin, who performed in large arenas before tens of thousands of people. He once ended a performance by saying, “I’d like to thank each and every one of you for coming tonight: thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you [deep breath] thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you….

We tend to give thanks for our amorphous blessings at Thanksgiving, but who do we need to thank individually for their daily kindnesses to us? This Thanksgiving, perhaps we can call to mind the people who do the little things that bring comfort to our lives and personally thank them. At the Mount, SOMEONE delivers newspapers to their appointed places each morning, empties the compost bucket, waters the myriad of plants, and turns on the microphone before morning prayer. In households, SOMEONE replaces the empty toilet paper roll in the bathroom, takes out the trash, and makes sure there’s always milk in the refrigerator. In the workplace, SOMEONE makes coffee every morning and refills the empty paper tray in the copier.

The mystic Rumi said, “If you only say one prayer in a day, make it ‘thank you.’” Better yet, make it “thank you” that is not only felt in the heart but uttered aloud to one who has served you with steadfastness. After all, as William Arthur Ward noted, “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”