My pastor concluded his sermon on generosity, reached into his pocket and pulled out a $20 bill. He held it high. “Who would like this?”
His question was met with silence by the congregation. He asked again, “Who would like this? It comes with an assignment. You have to give it away.”
More silence. Once again, he asked, “Anyone?”
I raised my hand. “I’ll see that someone gets it.”
“What’s going on?” I asked. And then I listened. Her problems were not new. She’d been wrestling with these same issues for years. But, I’ve learned that speaking your woes is therapeutic, and sometimes it takes saying them out loud more than once to work through them. I listened and then pulled out much of the same advice I’d given her before. I imagined her nodding on the other end of the line. She murmured, “Yes. I know. I’ll do that.”
I get it. We’re all busy. But, since when have we become too busy to genuinely say “thank you?”
I see it all the time. Next time you’re at a restaurant, pay attention to the tables around you. Watch how often the people being served say “thanks” to the person serving them. It’s as if the hard-working server is invisible.
I doubt that’s the way most of us were raised, but it seems to be a trend these days. If people don’t get the treatment they think they deserve, they aren’t afraid to speak up. There’s actually a name for that attitude: annoyed entitlement.
