No sorry, no thank you in friendship
– Prem
The golden lines were said by Salman Khan in the movie ‘Maine Pyar Kiya’ to Bhagyashree whom he fancied as his girlfriend and then his wife (important because of Rajshri!). That ruined the basic courtesy people had got left in them till that point and since then it has only declined further.
Call me a mood-spoiler but I am not necessarily a big fan of special days for special things. Today for instance is ‘Michchhāmi Dukkaḍaṃ (मिच्छामि दुक्कडम्)’, a Jainism related day on which people ask for forgiveness for any kind of unintentional or intentional misdeeds they might or might not have committed. Same way, there’s Thanksgiving in the US. It is intended to be thankful and shows gratitude to others.
As we know, people are mightly clever as they may think that saying sorry for one day gives them the right to be a nuisance on other days. (As they say after partaking 1000 rats, the cat went on pilgrimage.) Anyways nowadays Sneezing is capital punishment but if I sneeze and then say sorry to the other person, who is currently busy in sanitizing herself or himself (and reporting me to authorities), will my sorry even matter?
Or saying Thank you for trivial things like keeping the door open for the person coming behind you (which is considered a big deal). That’s so basic that if not done, that should itself call for name-calling bluntly. The other day, kids were playing Badminton outside my apartment and the shuttlecock fell into my balcony. I gave it back to them instantly but then they went on with their business without Thank You. For an instant, I was almost about to thank then instead for not shouting “Uncle, can you please throw the cock back?”. Then there’s money involved too. The gravity of thanks for gifts received also depends on how heavy the gift is and how big the box is. But where will this confusing monstrosity end? Till we have special days for special things, this won’t change.
That’s all! Thank you for reading. Sorry for making you read.
Hmmm… I think as parents we are failing to teach our kids how important it is to say thank you and sorry and show your gratitude towards somebody. People these days are so busy earning money that they leave their children to TV and mobiles… Is this the way your children are gonna learn the basic moral values?