How many times?

March 4^th 2007

My mother recently approached me about thanking someone. It may have been the 83,245^th time that I was supposed to thank this person. I think one big thanks should be able to go the distance. I mean really when is enough, enough?

It’s kind of like sorry, I know there are really bad things that people can do. I know that if it were me there are some pains I might never want to forgive or forget but in that case it wouldn’t be about how many times the person said sorry, it would be about how much pain that I could put them through or how many times I could insult them or whatever. Yes that’s really dark but knowing me I wouldn’t be able to stomach giving that much payback because it takes a toll on the inflictor of pain or at least it does to me. Plus there’s always jail to worry about :P. So in the end the worst that someone can expect from me, after the heat of the moment of course, because during I’m like anyone else, is that I won’t talk to them or hang around etc. I may actually speak on occasion but only if not speaking is a discomfort to me or people around me, and at the first opportunity I would be out of there.

Maybe I’m wrong about repeating thanks or sorry. I know as a recipient I would quickly become frustrated and start to avoid such a person. I know that once the person is sincere or at least well meaning once is perfect and often not even required because of the situation and their actions. The reason for my doubt though is that I hate repeating things that seem pointless or at least that aren’t pleasurable but at the same time I see the need for repeating basic processes like eating, breathing etc.

Perhaps repeating such actions as advising my family to stop stockpiling water in every container a good idea? Or perhaps constantly reminding them to keep the cordless phone close so they aren’t always frantically trying to find it is?

No, in light of my recent epiphanies the above habits aren’t good ideas. They would just weaken my family’s ability to learn on their own and increase my stress levels. In the same way constantly thanking someone for the same thing diminishes me after a point and makes me less valuable and the person who I’m thanking more valuable which reduces the worth of each of my thanks as time passes, until there’s really no point in saying it because it may cost more to say it than the value that it carries with the recipient.

Ok so I think I’ve settled it in my mind “Take nothing to excess.” Interesting I could have said that at the beginning and not bother with writing all this J.