Yes, thanks for the memory. Every time we say ‘thank you’ we are harking back to something that was done for us. The feeling lingers on in our minds and we feel obliged to send that feeling back to the giver. That’s how it is, isn’t it?
So let us start with the ‘Memory’ thank you card. It features Lisianthus flowers and text ‘With Grateful Thanks’ and a quotation from Jean-Baptiste Massieu that ‘Gratitude Is The Memory Of The Heart’.
And everything I have said seems so natural. In fact, though, saying thank you is a social convention. We know this is true because in some cultures people simply don’t do it.
In some cultures, when one person does something for another, the recipient doesn’t say anything. The two are so closely bonded that to say thank you would have the opposite effect than you would think. It would simply put emotional distance between them.
One could say it would be like the left hand thanking the right hand for holding the soap.
Saying Thank You Is Deeply Rooted In Our Culture
But we in the West are not one tight-knit community. And for whatever reason, the convention of saying thank you is deeply rooted in our culture. That said, there are those who feel it is dying out. To be precise it is dying out through neglect and not through any conscious shift.
People are becoming immune to the gratitude they should show. To clarify, it is the direct result of the ‘me’ emphasis in the modern world, the feeling that they are entitled to everything. It extends to complaining. There’s no room for a possible misunderstanding or for a different point of view. Everything is an outrage and an effrontery. The middle ground has become a chasm.
Gratitude Is A Good Idea
Showing gratitude is a good idea. It cements the bonds between people – and we need that in this day and age. And it doesn’t matter whether the recipient is far away or close by, Thank You cards are a great idea. And the range of occasions for saying thank you is vast. One can say thank you for gifts one has received. Equally, one can say thank you for a favour that someone has done for you.
And then there are the ‘just because’ moments when one wants to say a big old thank you to someone for being there. Yes, Thank You cards are a simple gesture that can mean a lot.
We have already enumerated that gratitude is a state of mind. Saying thank you is therefore simply being polite. Yes, it is true that one can send an electronic text. And there may be times for them. But an electronic text doesn’t have the same feeling of sincerity that handwritten thank you cards do.
A handwritten thank you card is an important part of our culture. We humans have been writing to communicate for so long that it is simply natural of us to think of writing as a way to say thank you.
Of course, if your handwriting is that atrocious, you can always type a note and put it with the card in the envelope.
Type is a Thank You card with a vintage typewriter and typed text on paper in the typewriter that reads ‘I just had to write to thank you very much for the…’
Beyond Politeness
Beyond being polite, thank you cards also show that you care. For example, imagine a Thank You card landing on someone’s doormat. It has arrived in the post as the perfect way to show that someone that you care. It would take a robot or a zombie not to be moved by receiving such a card.
So sending one shows that you have gone to the effort to find the perfect card. More than that, it shows you have also taken the time to sit down and find the words to convey your feelings. And then you have dug out and written the address and posted the card.
What does it all show? It shows the person to whom you are sending it that they are worth it. So yes, thanks for the memory, because memories live on long after events pass, and saying thank you helps cement them in our feelings for the good of us all.