Let Kindness & Generosity be the Hallmark of your Holiday Season
In her column today, Peggy Noonan imagines Brian Williams reporting on Santa’s journey this Christmas Eve. That NBC anchor concludes his fictive newscast, observing:
Santa comes to remind us that kindness and generosity can be a surprising gift from someone you don’t even know. To remind us that something can be a gift even if it arrives awkwardly, such as tumbling down a chimney. Maybe Santa comes just to touch our hearts.
I wish more people in LA paid attention to Santa’s reminder. We could use a little more kindness and generosity in this town.
Just yesterday, lunching at a local restaurant, I was amazed at the sullenness of the waitress. Perhaps she had had a bad day — or a busy holiday season. But her attitude seemed similar to that of so many others in her profession.
After my workout earlier today, I realized I would rather pay a few bucks more for a protein shake at the gym, then go over to the neighboring health food store where the shakes are cheaper, but where the staff tends to be as sullen and listless as my waitress yesterday.
That is, I would rather spend a buck or two extra and deal with a friendly clerk (at my gym), then have an indifferent clerk darken my day — and perhaps also delay my departure while she takes her time ringing up the customer before me.
At this time of year, we would all do well to let Santa be the reminder that Peggy’s Brian Williams imagines him to be. When we leave our homes and face our fellows, let us show them a little kindness, offer good wishes to a neighbor and smile at a stranger. And realize that if we so conduct ourselves in our professional lives, we may well increase our standing with our co-workers — and our clients.
Wishing all of you all a Merry Chanuka and a Happy Christmas, filled with good cheer and good friends, good health and much happiness.
B. Daniel Blatt (GayPatriotWest@aol.com)
ADDENDUM: While I normally check Peggy’s column every Friday, Peter alerted me to this one before I had check the OpinionJournal website so a hat-tip is in order.
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I’m actually starting to get in the Christmas spirit finally, pretty bah humbug until yesterday.
Comment by imnohero — December 22, 2006 @ 6:15 pm - December 22, 2006
When I see posts about holiday cheer, I am reminded of a colleague who used to host a cable health talk show. He received a call from a woman who basically said that she couldn’t understand how anyone could be blue during the time of year that “Jesus Christ our Savior was born.” The problem is that if some one has issues with their family, this becomes more compounded during the holidays. So it’s no wonder that a lot of gay people dislike the holiday season. And gay bars seem to be packed on Christmas night for those who survived another Christmas.
Like you, Dan, I prefer friendlier service throughout the year, and willing to spend a little more for it.
Happy Hanukkah to you, Dan. I hope you enjoyed some latkes. My partner and I had some last Friday night, although I prefer applesauce, and he sour cream. Now it’s Christmas with my family. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and happy holidays to your readers.
Comment by Pat — December 23, 2006 @ 9:09 am - December 23, 2006
“I would rather pay a few bucks more for a protein shake at the gym, then go over to the neighboring health food store where the shakes are cheaper, but where the staff tends to be as sullen and listless as my waitress yesterday.”
Perhaps the cheaper shakes come at the expense of employee pay. IOW you get what you pay for. It’s not always best business policy to just ‘count beans.’ The products my company builds and sells through a distributor may not be the cheapest but we do try to keep the customer happy. As an example, I just completed a business trip to fix an issue that I could have argued “was not my problem.” But I felt that it was more important to keep a new customer – who might be ordering more of our systems in the future – happy and enthused about our products and so our distributor and my company ate the costs of the trip. Not all business models take that approach but I think it’s important to really try to put yourself in the the customer’s shoes when dealing with problems. Attitude’s important.
Comment by Ian — December 23, 2006 @ 9:24 pm - December 23, 2006
And let us not forget that the ritual of Christmas, with its message of peace and good will to all, is to act as a reminder that that is how we are supposed to act towards each other at all times.
Peace to all.
Comment by Jim G — December 24, 2006 @ 12:28 am - December 24, 2006