A song video and a magazine column inspired this post.

This past week I shared a moving video with my students.  Passed on to me by a colleague, “Free Hugs” , is a wonderfully touching montage of young people smiling and offering to share a hug with passersby in an Italian square. With Alexandra Burke’s hauntingly beautiful rendition of “Hallelujah” this video can make you smile, cry, and melt. Find 3 minutes and 38 seconds, sit back, watch, listen, and enjoy!  Some may call the video sappy and sentimental; maybe that is what we can use more of these days.

I also read a great piece in this month’s Fast Company. Nancy Lublin argues that the most underused and basic management tool is a simple “Thank you!”

And so, with those in mind and Thanksgiving around the corner, I would like to offer a thank you and a cyber hug to those who many times are forgotten—or worse yet, ignored.  I sometimes refer to them as the “invisible people.”  These are the folks who quietly do their jobs; those we may take for granted; the people who make our world a little better each day.  So, in no particular order, I would like to say “Thank You” to just a few of these kind folks:

• The secretaries and office clerks who make their companies purr. They do the work that makes the corporation, the campus, the store function.
• The custodians who keep the facilities clean and operational.  I have told my students on more than one occasion: without our custodial crew there would be no school.
• The cashiers who see their share of grumpy people mindlessly paying for their purchases.  One cashier on our campus brings a smile to my face each day because of the bright smile on her face. (Thank you, Sabrina!)
• The deli clerks, pharmacy clerks, and drive through attendants who make our day move a little smoother.
• The airport van drivers around this nation who schlep us to our flights and help us with our bags.
• The person who lets you merge into her lane of traffic. ‘nough said!

And the list can—and should—go on and on and on.  Obviously, we are thankful for our families and friends (though we need to make them really know it on a regular basis). We are thankful for God and the many blessings that come our way.  But tomorrow, take a moment and say “thank you” for the many things people do all around us. Let them know you see them and that you appreciate them.

May you, your family, your friends, and your community have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

© Steve Piscitelli and Steve Piscitelli’s Blog, 2010.