Commentary

Posted in: Commentary
Commentary: Thanks Les
By Laura Timm
Nov 27, 2008 - 7:41:15 PM

"If the only prayer you ever say in your life is Thank You, it will be enough."

- Meister Eckhart, (1260-1320)

I found this quote on a web site called http://www.bethankful.com/ and wondered when was the last time that each of us really concentrated on being thankful. Most of us, after hearing about a tragedy, will be very thankful for what we still have - many of us have experienced something along those lines in recent years. Often, a skilled and caring minister will move our hearts to appreciate each other and to be (if only momentarily) more thankful.

In the last week or so, however, while asking people in the community about the Thanksgiving holiday and about being thankful, I realized I had seen the same sheepish grin creep across many faces. Nearly everyone admitted to having a bit of a struggle this year. That sheepish grin seemed to be evidence of the ironic tug so many of us are feeling between our own unique struggles, the problems silently endured and the wisdom that a real and heartfelt thankfulness is going to be necessary through, not only the holidays, but through these hard times. That ironic tug, to me, is also evidence of what makes humans good.

It seems we’ve all gotten knocked off of our feet a bit this year in one way or another. The country is in a state of flux and no one really seems to have the best answer to calm the fears of individual citizens that make up the communities that occupy the states that we have always been fortunate enough to know as united.

When I looked up the word thankful in my American Heritage College Dictionary Third Edition, the definition was really pretty generic and pointed toward the word grateful. So I looked up the word grateful. That definition was similarly generic and led to the word thankful. Not much help. Then I glanced at the word “thankless”. Although the first definition was a little bland (“1. Not feeling or showing gratitude; ungrateful”) the second meaning did strike me a little harder, “2. Not likely to be appreciated: A thankless job.” Now there is something we could all write home about.

To be clear, the job I currently have, the one that allows me to get these words to you, is not thankless. In fact, it’s within the realm of my dream job. I’ve always loved writing and, while deadlines force me to funnel creativity into a weekly epiphany or story, they also force me to write when I might not have made the time to do so. So, I’m thankful for this job. I’m thankful for so many things in my life I’d need to take out a full page ad to even come close to expressing it accurately. I have, however, had a thankless job or two over the years.

At one time, while waiting for an office position at a private college near my home, I grew weary of waiting and took a physical plant job. That’s a janitorial position. I did this for the self-serving reason of continuing college without the expense. Full time employees at that particular college, at that particular time, were allowed to take credited college courses at no cost (so to speak).

I found out that I’d be responsible for a four-level building where three floors of college boys resided. I’d soon be taking care of their lobbies, hallways, bathrooms and their garbage. This thought made me laugh as I toured the building with the maintenance manager in my dress clothes (for the interview) and leather coat and with my new haircut. None of this would soon matter as janitors tend to become invisible. Even female janitors in an all boys dorm seem to become translucent after weeks of just being there puttering around in the hallways like a mom to nearly one hundred young men, each with their own habits.

It was a lesson in service and a humbling experience for me. When I remember it though, I’ll never forget the young man who, as the school year drew to a close, purchased two glass roses, one for myself and one for the other woman who took care of the building (in that dorm there were two of us). I still have that glass rose. It reminds me that my time there was real and my service, which seemed an invisible and never-ending pouring out of care at the time, was not unnoticed.

This week I heard of a loss that this community endured; A man whose mischievous grin and sparkling blue eyes defied the age that would have differentiated most older employees from the abundance of youth that surrounded him while checking groceries or bagging items for customers. There was something about that man and I’ll hold his name though I’m sure that most will recognize him. The young men and boys working alongside him seemed to respect him and he joked with the best of them. He was a peer, ageless and clever, and he certainly seemed quick witted to this customer.

If any of you have taken the time to look up from your groceries or your checkbook before leaving the store, you’ve certainly seen this man’s smiling eyes. I loved that mischievous gleam, even on the day he mentioned, while bagging my groceries, that he was going in for some tests.

He never seemed to lose his smile. Although he certainly must have been filled with thoughts that I’ve not yet been forced to think, he was as gracious and intelligent on that day as anyone else in the room. I told him I’d keep him in my prayers. That was not so many weeks ago. Now he’s gone to us. I never got his full story. Though many who knew him will each have their own story. It is a credit to his warmth and wisdom that many of those who hold these memories could have been his grandchildren but were really his friends. I have to believe that he loved the interaction and the atmosphere with his younger coworkers having seen the smile on his face so many times.

I said I would hold his name but I think I won’t. The text message that was sent from cell phone to cell phone among those under twenty yesterday, “In memory of Les,” was surely as valid an announcement and show of appreciation as I’d ever want to have. I don’t think Les’s job was at all thankless. Although grocery clerks and baggers sometimes seem invisible, Les was a spot of sunshine for anyone on the receiving end of his smile. So it is this definition of thankful and grateful that I finally found by looking at the antonym, thankless, by considering a thankless job of my own and somehow it seems quite fitting when what I really want to say is “Thank you Les.”

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