“Have a Nice Day”- “Thank You”
There are a handful of jobs out there in which the exchange “Have a nice day”- “Thank You” take place, hundreds of times per day.
Markets, toll booths, drug stores- When we talk about “Have a nice day”- “Thank You,” we are, I think, talking about places and moments in which this world might actually be perfect.
_________________________
My favorite thing about the army is the time to think- midnight guard-duties and patrols and quieter hours at a checkpoint are great opportunities to unpack that cobweb-covered little room in my brain which bears the sign “Here lies the impractical thoughts.”
Among the first of the thoughts to pop out of my head was the above “Have a nice day”- “Thank You” thought.
It’s an amazing thing, the “Have a nice day” phenomenon. I think about the people that engage in such exchanges on a daily basis and am blown away: can other occupations include the expression of so much goodwill?
Jewish tradition maintains that our greatest creative power as human beings is speech. Speech creates, and leaves its affects on the world. So I’ll let you finish the equation:
My speech creates + I say “Have a nice day” to you (with proper intentions, of course) = …
I thought of all this while checking the individuals who passed through my unit’s Shechem (Nablus) checkpoint, wishing them a nice day.
Markets, toll booths, drug stores, checkpoints.
Well, one difference at the checkpoint set the equation off, just a bit:
My wishes of a nice day were adorned with a helmet, a bulletproof vest and a two foot long metal stick that bears the name M-16 Machine Gun. An M-16 Machine Gun somewhat dulled the warmth of “Have a nice day” and “Thank you.” I guess the guy who tried sneaking a bomb through our checkpoint dulled that warmth too.
Gee whiz. Do you know what it is to greet someone while holding a machine gun?
I hope you don’t. It is not pleasant. I hope so badly that I will never have to do it again. I hope that neither will anyone else.
I imagine that a gun juxtaposes the best and worst we humans have to offer: Our willingness to protect life at all costs, and the ease and readiness with which we end it. But whether protecting or attacking, guns don’t do anything but kill, and I’ll be very happy when they all disappear.
Standing at the checkpoint, I dreamed of working at a store- where the only objects that would stand between my “Have a nice day” and the person before me would be his/her candy bar, box of band-aids or receipt.
I wake up from dreaming and realize that the world is not entirely perfect yet. I didn’t spend the last month wishing people nice days from behind a store counter.
Truth be told, I am very thankful for the privilege to be part of an army that protects my people. But I pray so hard for the privilege to give that privilege up: Not because someone else will come to protect us, but because we will no longer perceive the need to be protected.
My blessing for us this week is twofold:
1- That listen to store clerks’ nice day wishes. Those that spend their days wishing people good just have to have special powers. I hope that we can concentrate when being blessed, and take advantage of the gifts offered us.
2- That we invest in this perfect pocket of our reality by answering all well-wishing clerks with a hearty “Thank you,” and an even heartier “You too.”
Guns and wars and such are issues that intimidate me. I think if we confront our reality- recognizing our mistakes and recognizing how unideal our current situation is- and then focus on areas of society in which we’ve succeeded- “Have a nice day”- “Thank you,” for example- then we will find the strength with which to figure everything else out.
I’ve spent the last few days dreaming of another sort of reserve duty:
When the necessity to carry around M-16 Machine Gun ends, maybe there will be a reserve duty in which everyone gives one month a year towards performing a more constructive service to the place in which they live: Cleaning up a public beach, Cooking at a soup kitchen, baby-sitting for working single parents. We could all choose the activity that suits us. What a heavenly home that would be…
Have a nice day!
Did you enjoy this post? Subscribe via RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
April 16th, 2008 at 1:02 am
wow! yannai, that was so beautiful! mamash. thank you so much for your words.