Publisher’s Page: What happened to ‘I’m sorry’, ‘thank you’; more on Yeager
By John A. Winters, Publisher, Winters Media & Publishing Inc.
Growing up, there were certain “sins of omission” that could potentially result in more hurt than the obvious “sins of commission.”
You knew you had committed one of the deadly “sins of omission” when you heard a parent utter, “and what do you say?” Depending on the severity, you got a look of “just wait till we get home,” to a pinch in the side to a slap up the side of the head.
I refer to the phrases “I’m sorry,” and “thank you.”
I will admit to an occasional pinch, way too many “and what do you say” in my formative years. But my brothers and I finally got it. We were not given the option.
What has happened?
I’m not talking about that time you held the door open for someone and they didn’t say thank you. That’s an easy fix. Just trip them.
You go out of your way to help someone, the response is almost like you they were doing you a favor letting you in their “space.”
Need I say more? To those “non-thankers” I say this. You are not that awesome. If for no other reason, just say thanks to be polite.
I think “I’m sorry” is going the way of the Dodo and Pompeii. Like where a person fails to show up for a scheduled meeting; they don’t complete a required assignment; or pinkie swear to get back to you that day and don’t. You get a shrug at best. It’s almost like apologizing is now a sign of weakness.
The logic also seems to be that if we don’t apologize, then the failure to deliver on one’s word meant the occasion never really happened in the first place. That logic is flawed.
You will probably get more “sorries” for spilling the popcorn.
For our part, we’d like to thank you for taking the time to read our publications, The Paper and The Shopper. We’d like to thank our advertisers for trusting us with promoting their businesses. And we are sorry when an ad’s color is orange and not red. That latter issue is one we continue to work on.
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If you ever need a commencement or motivational speaker, I would suggest looking up our own Mike Yeager, who is retiring as sheriff. During a recent community appreciation/retirement dinner, he took time (okay, a lot of time) to say thanks and share some thoughts he developed over a more than 30-year law enforcement career.
Here are some of my favorites:
“You have to have vision and be one to seek out new trends, ideas and technologies.”
“In each step of my career, I did it with the intention to grow and learn as much as I could. And I still do that today … You can learn something new if you just set your mind to it.”
“We have to choose to show up each and every day and be fully engaged.”
“You will never know what to improve on unless you first know how it works to begin with.”
“Every aspect of your career is determined by your character, character that was created over a lifetime of experiences.”
“By the time you become wise enough to do this job, time has passed, and you are too old to do it.”
“I am confident in who we are and I am secure in the belief that we will be even better tomorrow.”
“It is my sincere hope that you will always lead with your heart and be defined by your character.”
“A person is not loved by how tall they stand, but by how often they bend to help, to comfort and teach others.”
On our website, wintersmedia.net, check out our news section and under that the photos/videos section. You will see two videos of Mike speaking, the second one contains the above quotes.
And as always, see you next time.
