I recently watched an Indian film on Netflix called Billu about an impoverished barber in a remote forgotten rural village in India and a movie celebrity who has been looking for him all these years to repay a kindness done in the past. The film touches on lasting impact of sincere friendship and lifelong gratitude.
“Gratitude is the memory of the heart, ” wrote Jean Baptiste Massieu. Perhaps, at this point in our lives, it’s time for old folks like us to look back in gratitude and thank all the people who have helped and even changed us. The time to go back and see them and pay them recognition is now before it’s too late.
Which brings me to the last film made by Akira Kurosawa, called Madadayo. A quiet, poignant and elegant reflection on aging, wisdom and tolerance, it portrays the affection and loyalty felt between a retired teacher and his students. The old sensei basks in the admiring solicitude of his loyal students, who organize yearly birthday banquets during which the students, now also old, sing about ‘’looking up to our teacher, thinking of our debt.”
The film is an inspiring ode to gratitude to mentors who shaped and molded us. For we wouldn’t be where we are today if it wasn’t for people on whom we rely on a daily basis. We can start by thinking about our parents. Who gave you life and raised you, and took care of you—as a baby you were helpless and would have died very quickly if others hadn’t taken care of you. Who helped you learn how to walk and speak? Who taught you the alphabet, math, English, science, civics and other subjects?
What about the people who helped you during your adulthood, your years as an office worker, and so on. Think of your friends, classmates, uncles or grandparents, coworkers, work mentors, bosses. People who helped you, people who made you to learn some lessons, people who gave you good and bad experiences. Never forget that whatever you’ve achieved is not only your efforts but the combined efforts of people whom you’ve met on the way to success.
Many of us mistakenly believe that we don’t actually have to say the words “thank you” out loud. We assume our loved ones know how thankful we are for all they have done for us. The truth is, often our loved ones really don’t know how much we appreciate them.
Offering gratitude for the acts of kindness others have extended to you is quick and easy. It takes little time and effort to say “Thank You,” yet it can have a tremendous impact on completing important relationships. You can find something to be thankful for in every relationship in your life. Surely you can find something to be thankful for in each relationship in your life. Now is the time to tell them, Thank you!
If you are in touch with your “sensitive side” and find it easy to express your feelings by saying Thank you, then just go ahead and do it. If you, like many people, find saying those three little words more terrifying than jumping out of an airplane without a parachute, there are other ways you can express sentiments of gratitude.
Some people might be more comfortable expressing gratitude in a written letter or card. Others find less obvious, but equally meaningful ways of expressing love.
In what ways can you get creative in expressing your gratitude? If Paul Simon can sing “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover,” surely you can find 50 ways of saying or expressing your gratitude.