I was out doing a few errands today and decided to stop by the Philadelphia Soft Pretzel store on our Main Street in Moorestown. It was a gray and dreary day and I was thinking that delivering some pretzels might be a nice surprise for someone to brighten their day with an afternoon snack. A good idea came to me and I bought a bag of 20 pretzels, hot out of the oven.
I decided to bring them over to the administration building for our township's school system. It seems to me that the work of the employees in the administration building is often overlooked and under-appreciated. Too many people either spend their time complaining about some aspect of the schools, or if they choose to see the good, they're usually acknowledging a particular teacher or classroom. Rarely does anyone ever note those in the administration building who work tirelessly, largely behind the scenes, to make sure things run smoothly throughout the district. Today was a chance to say "thanks" to all those people.
While this may sound strange, I often find that during times like the holidays, the heartfelt thanks we may wish to share get diminished in their impact. To some extent, a certain degree of gift-giving has become obligatory and so the element of surprise and the delight that can go with it tends to get lost. My "thank you" to the folks at the administration building has nothing to do with the season. It's just a sincere expression of gratitude and appreciation - irrespective of the time of year. In some way, though, I think the preponderance of gift giving serves to mute the message. Of course, I'm not suggesting that people shouldn't give gifts. It's just an observation I've had, and it's why I generally prefer to do things at "unscheduled" times where their potential impact is greater.
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