Today was my grandfather’s birthday. It was almost the last thing on my mind to call him. I guess that is partially because my grandparents have no always been the most fond of me, and it seems almost pointless to call someone, get a meaningless thank you, and resume my previous task. But I did it anyways because he gave a generous donation to my college fund.
I was pleasantly surprised to get his voicemail. when I called I left a simple message: happy birthday, hope it was great, and sorry for the lateness of this call. No love you. No goodnight. Just kind of an awkward giggle (of which I am none for). Not even 5 minutes later he called me back, but I was in the quiet part of the library so I couldn’t pick up (Not that I would have picked up if I was anywhere else). So not even because I wanted to hear it, but only to rid my screen of the notification, I listened to his message. It was a solid 15 seconds of him repeating thank you. And somewhere in those 15 seconds a force overcame me: perhaps guilt, maybe regret, something nonetheless. How did my 12 seconds, apathetic phonemail receive such laud. Again my phone rang with my grandfathers name flashing across the screen. This time I assumed it was a mistake— butt dial or something. And still in the libraries depths of silence, I declined the call. Yet another voicemail. This time I was expecting some rattling in a pant pocket or faded voices. To my surprise the message was a continuation of my grandfather’s thankfulness for my birthday wish. Again, a force overcame me. This time more powerful than the last. I had received two phone calls expressing extreme gratitude for a lackluster birthday voicemail. Wow. Nevertheless, from someone I virtually put no effort into maintaining a relationship with (as awful as this sounds, its the horrible truth). Not to sound cliche, but it seems like our generation has marked appreciation as a dying fad. If everyone I knew got half excited about simple acts of kindness like my grandfather, the world may be a more forgiving, loving, and beautiful place. Who wouldn’t want to be swept off their feet by a genuine thank you for a small task? Would that not only empower each other to spread the kindness and genuineness which our generation has unfortunately began to lose? Is it not one of the simplest tasks to be genuine and express thanks? Perhaps all the layers we wear to please the world have made genuineness and thankfulness an ancient artifact of the past. That only means we’ll need some archaeologist to uncover it. And I can sure as hell can dig that!
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AuthorLife enthusiast, tea addict, Winnie the Pooh admirer who is hopelessly pursuing happiness by any and all means. Archives
April 2020
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