Day #15: The Ten People Revolution

I want to start a revolution.

A revolution for lazy-yet-appreciative people.

Wait, hear me out.

Today I received one of the nicest messages I've ever gotten about someone who heard about one of my shows and wanted to tell me that they think what I'm doing is fantastic.

It was such an unexpected message, and yet it absolutely made my day.

That got me thinking though--maybe I can do something active as part of this "nice" project. Then I remembered when I was a kid and donated over one hundred charity hours to The Big Help only to do half an hour raking leaves in the yard, and then go back in to donate more hours so I could potentially talk to Melissa Joan Hart.

The fact is, so many people only get to hear how much their friends, family, and co-workers appreciate them once a year on their birthday, if that. Yet when we think of appreciation, we think of it involving so much time and energy.

Well this may be a quick solution.

Think about how you great you feel when you log onto Facebook on your birthday and see a wall full of people wishing you well.

It's one of the coolest parts of the day, right?

Well, why does that only need to happen once a year?

So here's my idea:

Next Monday, August 23rd, I want to have a Thank You day. Pick ten people who you feel have really done something for you--big or small--and send them out an e-mail letting them know you appreciate them.

If you want to go the extra mile, call them. Take them out to lunch. Sky-write something in their honor.

But if you're like me, and you tend to get lazy when people ask you to do something nice, then trick yourself into it by simply sending out ten messages saying "Thank you."

It may not seem like much, but how cool would it be if we all logged onto Facebook or into our e-mails next Monday and found a few messages in our inbox telling us that somebody appreciates us?

I think if nothing else it would definitely brighten up a lot of dreary Mondays.

If only 100 people do this, that's still 1,000 potential people that can have a better day.

One of my favorite quotes is Maya Angelou's--"If you only say one prayer in your life, say 'Thank you.'"

So I'm giving y'all a week.

Come up with a list of ten names. You can do more than ten, but try to really think of who might need to hear 'Thank you' the most. Diversify a little. It'll spread the net a little farther.

Let's see if we can start a ten person revolution.

If nothing else, ten of you will be hearing from me next week.