A simple thank you

Thank you for this opportunity to reflect on giving and kindness. For a few minutes, I had the awful feeling come over me that my self-image (of a selfless boddhisattva, of course) is completely wrong, and that maybe I’ve been fooling myself completely– no acts of kindness came to mind at all. There’s certainly a lot of truth to that, but after more introspection, I can remember that, yes, OK, there were one or two “grand” selfless things I’ve done…But perhaps my more effective actions have been very small, tiny ones that I like to repeat as often as possible: thanking other people for THEIR acts of kindness and generosity, via hand-written notes, sent by pony express.I’ve found that people come alive when they receive this kind of old-school message. It only requires a few minutes of time in my day, yet often recipients of my simple notes are amazed that someone actually “took the time” to simply let them know that something they did was valued and appreciated. People feel validated, lifted, touched, awakened, and sometimes much more. Someone noticed them.In closing, let me also thank you for all your generosity. It’s working, and it’s deeply appreciated.-Alan