What hurts you the most?

When I was in school, I was friends with a girl who had ‘entitlement syndrome’.

Every time I did anything for her, like help her in her projects, pick her up/ drop her off for and after school, or lend her my stuff, in return of sweet smile or ‘thank you' she used to just brush it off.

I used to feel bad, but I did not say anything. After all she was my good friend. Maybe she just lacked a basic courtesy, but she was good in some parts too.

One day I just asked her casually why she never acknowledges the stuff I do for her. Her reply was simple- ‘Why should I? We are friends and you're supposed to do these things for me. What’s so special about them?’

I was a little shocked. Yes, I felt bad. Was I ‘supposed' to do things for her because we were friends. Was I under any sort of obligation? But I always did things for her from my heart. She was someone I truly cared for, someone I wanted to help when she needed it. I never felt that I was ‘supposed’ to do those things.

Friendship isn't a job where two people are ‘supposed' to do their assigned work properly.

But she, like a millions of other people, thought that just because two people have a relationship, they somehow don't need to acknowledge or appreciate each other's efforts.

Maybe that is why she never acknowledged my efforts, not by even saying a simple ‘thank you' with a warm smile once. Not that I was looking for appreciation and recognition, but a mere acknowledgement of efforts by a genuine warmth truly fuels up a person.

Imagine your parents are out and you're home alone. You decide to do something for them. You clean the house. You do the dishes. You wash the clothes and hang them up in the sun. You cook their favourite dishes. And you pay all the monthly bills via the internet. They come back home in the evening and see all this.

You're waiting for their happy and warm reaction.

But.

Instead of a warm blessing with a happy and proud face, they just say, ‘Why are you looking for something more? You're our child and you're ‘supposed’ to do all this daily. Why should we appreciate your efforts?’

They're just indifferent. You worked whole day to see them smile, but they are indifferent.

Now how will you feel? Discouraged and sad.

It takes nothing to appreciate someone's heartfelt efforts.

It takes nothing to acknowledge someone's actions for you.

It takes nothing to stop for a moment and tell someone that you notice what they do for you and what value they hold in your life.

Your parents, your siblings, your partner, your children, your friends, or anyone for that matter isn't ‘supposed’ to do anything for you unless you're paying them.

These people do things for you out of love, care, respect, support. If they are doing things for you, you can show tiny gratefulness or gratitude too.

Parents leave their new born babies mercilessly, children leave their parents in old age homes shamelessly, couples break-up or get divorces, friends backstabs and cheats.

So there are ample of example which tells us the people in our life could have abandoned us or cheated us or harmed us.

But they chose to love us, care for us, take up our tantrums, support us in our dreams, hold us up when we failed, helped us when we were lonely and incompetent.

So no, they are not ‘supposed’ to do these things. They ‘chose' to do these things. And we should be very thankful that they chose us intentionally.

A tiny ‘thank you' with a smiling face once in a while will light up their day. Trust me. They will feel the acknowledgement of their efforts.

“You're my support system.” Just a simple statement but has a huge impact on a human heart.

‘Taking for granted' is what hurt me, and a lot of people out there the most.

Also, a tiny thank you to all my readers. You all are not ‘supposed' to read my work, but ‘choose' to read it. And I am thankful for that :)