Gratitude

How do we define gratitude? Is it described with a dialogue or an action, or both?

Is it tangible or is it something that can only be felt? I have felt gratitude from people in very unusual ways, and very rarely have I heard the word “Thank You”, when people really felt thank full.

By now, you must be wondering, what is so thankful about the job I do that I am blabbering profoundly? I am a Care Buddy at a start-up called Uberhealth for Families. My job is to assist the elder people, who have children living away or no support system to help, through their medical concerns. This is the same old concept of respecting and caring for our elders. But who has the time in this busy world? I do it for their children. In a normal day, when the elders have a problem, I go and solve their problem; arrange transport, take them to hospital, manage all things in hospital, keep a check on proceedings, make notes and share with their children, pay for all the bills and bring them back home. I care for all the clients I have. In fact, I love them and they love me. There is a bond that can be felt on both sides and probably they feel it more than I do. I am not a rocket scientist and what I do is not a very difficult task either. Then why do they shower so much gratitude at me?

The company was started because the founders were travelling away from home all the time and had nobody to look after their parents. After their struggle for few years, the founders decided to do it by themselves. I thought people have finally gone crazy when I saw things getting seriously materialized in UberHealth. I have seen them getting over through ups and downs and real deep downs. But, they still stood afloat. I asked one of the co-founders, and he replied,” It’s the gratitude from people we serve that inspires us to come back every day.” No doubt all businesses are started to earn money, but lucky are those who have that positive externality already imbibed in their business. One day when UberHealth will be the biggest care taker of country, they won’t have to worry about their CSR activity, because their business is all about this social responsibility.

Coming back to my experience with people and their gratitude towards us, I feel proud of it. After a regular day with my star elderly friends (I like to imagine them like rock stars), I sit with them for sometime at their home to analyze what happened in the day and the future action plan. I arrange all the records and take pictures so that I can update all information. In the meantime, I see actions of gratitude. An 80 year old elderly lady, who is having breathing problems, wants to make the best tea she has made for me, even after my several protests. She wants to put in the especial ingredients, walks the length of her home to collect things and does it with a smile all the time. Another day, I was shown the shortest, most convenient and cleanest road by an 85 years old handsome gentleman. He had a problem in walking comfortably because of an accident few years back. But, how many times can you say no to this person? He walked down the stairs, fought with stones and pebbles on the road, kept the errant drivers on check, and never did he think to go back until he showed me the way. I don’t remember how many times I had said, “Sir, please go back, I know the way, Thank You”.

At these moments, I cannot explain the feeling in words. This is the biggest appreciation for me in the form of gratitude. What is your take on gratitude?