It's My Pleasure

 Long ago, yet near enough to be relevant, I found a desire to use words that serve my purpose more vividly. There’s nothing like hunger for robust to hone skills of awareness; and so it was. 

   I made it a point to pluck out words from my everydayness that subtly accused or judged.  Whenever I noticed them I’d make a substitution from then on; it is a process that is never-ending.

     A case in point on the topic, is the social practice of saying “You’re Welcome” after receiving a “Thank You” when a favor was performed. Foremost I noticed how empty the expression seemed to be due to it being so automatic; spoken as a neutral practiced script by those who consider themselves polite.  Secondly, I felt that the phrase really didn’t convey the sense of cooperation I believe it must have held in ages past.  These days I choose to respond with, “It’s my pleasure,” as a more befitting response to an uttered appreciation. It also resonates far more appropriate for the meaning of doing favor for an equal.

All of this process actually began after reading a book by the Dahlia Lama.  I admired how he was able to make his point without finding someone or something to blame.  I noticed the power of his word choices.  They embraced as well as inspired courage to own the choices one makes.  It was the beginning of my own love affair with being clear as well as unbiased in my speech; utmost was my desire to keep from assigning fault for my distress or disappointment; to do so would be giving my personal power away.  Perhaps that is what seems to be missing from present conversations? How rare is it now to be part of a dialog where there is a sense of acceptance along with, more importantly, respect by equals? 

  Ours is a world seeking efficiencies; in that quest comes a somewhat reckless dispensing of redundancies.  Fear of losing position encourages random trimming of qualities whose interdependencies are scarcely understood.  As any historian, (or mom), will tell you; act in haste and regret in leisure.  So it is true with shaving away our sense of decency dealing with one another. When we do, we lose connection along with any sense of goodwill towards one another. 

Oddly I am reminded of one of the many useful lessons my mom taught me.  In this case, ‘If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.’ Is that a pearl of wisdom or what?