it happened again. for the sake of goodness, i decided to do something special. in the tradition of my wonderful aunts and uncles, i decided to give something to a member of the up and coming generation.
over the years, my aunts and uncles went out of their way to enhance my life. my first “law suit” and custom shirts were from one set. another set, on their trip to israel, purchased me a shofar. these items were appreciated and used extensively.
with my niece’s daughter coming into town, i decided to continue this tradition and buy her a guitar. with her being age appropriate to learn an instrument and her mother, my niece, being a talented skilled musician and guitarist, what could go wrong?
for this mission, i employed my son to absorb the lesson of generosity. in the store, we spent the time making sure to get an instrument of quality and beauty. an instrument that a child would embrace in their exploration of music. after some time, we found one that fit the bill.
because we were to meet at the end of the week, friday dinner, i decided to drop the guitar off at my sister’s house on sunday. this would allow her to have time to play with it before being restrained by the sabbath. to accomplish this, i left work early.
i spent the week looking forward to going to my sister’s on friday. it was going to be exciting to experience her grandchild’s excitement over the gift. my anticipation was stoked as my sister texted me a picture showing that the little one was already playing the guitar. the picture was encouraging as she was displayed intensity and concentration towards the instrument. i thought, wonderful, perhaps a fire was lit. after the picture, however, i heard nothing more. during this time, however, i came down with covid which quashed my friday dinner attendance.
since they knew i was sick, i thought that the least that i would get was a text message thanking me. perhaps, i would get a phone call. instead, i heard nothing.
i do not take well to moments of bad manners. my children have been subjected to many lessons on the importance of saying “thank you.” thus, i texted my sister to express my disappointment. in response, my niece texted me to essentially express that they were so busy to send a thank you. in response, i texted back and noted that there is always time to say “thank you” and that this should be a teaching moment for her daughter. to this date, my niece’s daughter has not personally thanked me.
bad manners is a nationwide epidemic. too often i see parents offering up “thank you”s in lieu of their children. parents who do this, i implore you to “stop” this conduct. please take it upon yourselves to make your children do the right thing. teach them to say “thank you.”
the act of gratitude is dangerously in peril with these coming generations. these are the children who, for the sake of their existence, received cell phones. these are the children who are so self entitled that we need to learn their pronouns so that they can be addressed. without impressing the need upon these individuals to express gratitude, parents are creating the generation of the pathetic.
the consequences of the lost art of the two words are obvious. personally, i am not angry over this most recent episode. rather, i am disappointed to the point in which two words come to mind- “why bother”.
be well!!
The Ten Commandments Project 