Thank You! Two short words, eight letters long that can make a huge difference in someone's day - 
maybe mine, maybe yours. It's Tuesday and here at IResolveTo.Com that means it's time to think about how we can be 'kinder'. In 2008, my New Year Resolution is to show gratitude and 'give back', so twice a week I focus on how folks can be kinder, gentler, nicer toward each other. I'm not talking about random ways of being kind that fall into your lap. I'm talking about making a conscious choice - a decision: Today, I am going to do something big or small to 'make someone' else's day.
One of my favorite ways to be kinder is to show appreciation for the men and women who serve as clerks in the store's where I purchase the goods that keep me going day to day. I was a grocery clerk for nearly 10 years, as I worked my way through high school and college, so I understand how hard they work. It was a wonderful job that taught me how to earn a living and how to work with people - most of them very nice, as I recall. To this day, I still remember the faces of some of the 'regulars', the customers who would wander through my check out line each week. Being the writer that I am, and a creative soul who is always stitching together stories, I wondered about the people who ventured through my check out lane - their lives, families, jobs, why they bought what they did . . .
I think most of us have or have had jobs in which we work(ed) with people. Typically, it's long hours, sore feet, hard work, with impatient customers - as well as some very nice customers and colleagues. I've been on both sides of that equation - clerk and customer - and I would gladly, proudly serve in either role in the future. Along that vein, a fitting quote, one of my all time favorites, is from Martin Luther King, Jr.:
"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well."
My point today is this: a simple 'hello', a smile, a few kind words can make a huge difference in a store clerk's day. Why not show a little gratitude to the person who is trying to move you in and out of the store as fast as he/she can? Personally, I enjoy interacting with the staff that I see in the shops that I frequent. Just because we don't have tiny corner grocery stores in each and every neighborhood doesn't mean we can maintain and preserve 'human kindness' in our daily lives.
Next store clerk you see - why not make a decision to smile, be nice, and appreciate their efforts . . . who knows, maybe it will rub off one person to the next. I bet it will make that person's day a little lighter, easier and happier. Wouldn't that make you feel great too?
Remember: I Resolve To Achieve My New Year Resolutions, One Resolution, One Day At A Time For One Year. It's your choice. Do it today. Turn your resolution into reality in five simple, common sense steps: Dare To Dream, Decide, Define, Develop A Plan, and Do It Daily. Make your resolution a permanent Lifetime Resolution, something that's with you for good! Above all, Be A Resolutionista, someone who makes resolutions, keeps resolutions, and enjoys the journey! Let's Go For It!
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Kim M. Simpson - January 15, 2008
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