The Power of a Simple Thank You

One of the things I did last year was to go find somewhere to volunteer.

I am not much of a volunteer - I will volunteer for occasional specific events or needs but have never been much of one to dedicate a regular portion of my time to somehow serving.  This is a flaw in my nature, and something that I have been seeking to correct.

Where I came down is a local animal shelter, specifically a rabbit shelter, that takes in and cares for surrendered and abandoned rabbits and finds them homes.

The work itself is not terribly demanding:  a couple of hours a week, I go and do what needs doing:    most of the time it is changing litter pans and throwing away the garbage, though at times I have packaged food, sanitized cages, fixed things, cut mats, or whatever else needed doing.  The work is never taxing and the bunnies always seem happy for the help.

What is gratifying and somewhat surprising is how often they say thank you.

They say it every week.  Every one.  I am surprised at how regular and often the thanks are.  It is not as if I am doing something particularly difficult, yet they are consistently thankful to have me come and work there.  It seems a little silly to me at times, since I feel like I should be the one thanking them for the privilege of coming and working there for people that are doing good things for rabbits.

The comparison between this and the rest of life often seems stark.  If I perform an immediate comparison to the large portions of my life - work, for example, or even home - I find that both the thanks I receive and (honestly) the thanks I give are not nearly so present.  We wander through the day, doing what we need to do and getting others to do what we need or expect them to do, too often without the vaguest hint of gratefulness about our persons.  We have become a society of exchange, a society that seems to believe (by its actions) that behavior and effort are just one more thing that we are paying for in the exchange of time for money, and that expressions of gratitude are at best quaint and at worst not given because we are paying for the actions anyway.

But we miss something, I think, when we approach human relations this way.  Surely pay in the pocket speaks, but the sincere thanking for a task or effort has the multiplying effect of expanding that effort into true service.  A simple actual of gratitude - even just saying "thank you"  and actually meaning it - gives the sense that the effort to do something is recognized, even if it cannot be rewarded any other way.  It surely makes people more willing to do more and bear burdens.

I will go in next week to the shelter, change my pans and hurl trash, and be back to help because I know I make a difference - and am told so.  Sad to think that for most of us that same feeling will not be propagated through the rest of our activities.