If I say thank you and thanks don’t mean the same thing you may say I am petty. Though the two are means of expressing gratitude, they both do not convey the same message. One is personalised but the other is not.

An average human being has ego. That doesn’t make him egotistic but a massaged ego can be the difference you are looking for when you seek quick results at the most critical moments, even under unusual circumstances.

I once lodged in a hotel some years back. As I entered my room and switched on the television, what beamed at me was “Welcome Akinremi. We are glad to have you at …… hotel”. I was not only wowed, I was indeed enthused. The experience is evergreen.

A church signage somewhere in Lagos has the caption “a seat is reserved for you”. This one is a public advert but I imagine the feeling that comes with knowing that a seat is reserved for me in a church. The feeling is indescribable.

The two experiences I just described attest to the power of personalisation. An average human being, even the man in the mirror, feels more important when a positive message is targeted at him/her directly, as opposed to when it is generalised.

Thanks is an alternative way of saying thank you and it is not a wrong thing to say. However, if you did for me an act worthy of appreciation and I say thanks, I stand the risk of making you feel that I probably expected more. Is there any goodness too little?

Even the littlest act of goodness deserves a good measure of gratitude that may not be inherent in a mere “thanks”. Not every thing that is right is noble when you apply to real life scenarios.

Thanks is an expression of gratitude, just like thank you but the latter is personalised and it speaks directly to target. One is casual but the other communicates intentionality.

Gratitude is a culture. It can be taught and it can be learnt. I am training my mind not to be economical with my words, particularly when courtesy demands it.

Thank you for reading this piece

Photo credit to Benedict Otu and Oluwatomisin Peter Olawuyi. Thank you, Benedict and Peter.

©️Akin Oluwadare Jnr
19 February 2024