If you ran into him on the street and noticed him, you’re likely to think, “He’s an odd-looking fellow.” While he appears to be in his fifties, I think he’s much younger. He’s about 5’5” tall, wears a hat that’s a bit too large so that it hangs over his eyes, has a scruffy beard, and a grin from each to ear. One gold tooth gleams in his mouth – a little left to center. As he passes people, he bows his head slightly as he says hello to each one.
I know this man. I see him almost every day. He’s my postal carrier. From all appearances, he seems to be one of the happiest and gracious people I know.
I also know his wife. She works in the grocery store a few blocks from my home. She appears to be a bit older and is very soft-spoken. She speaks with an accent, but her voice is so soft I can’t quite identify it. I presume she was born somewhere in the Caribbean. Hers is not the big smile of her husband. Instead, she usually wears a grin with no teeth showing. But you can’t miss the way her lips are tightly pulled to a smile making her rosy cheeks almost pop. And there’s the gleam in her eye – an unmistakable spark.
They often meet at the grocery around lunchtime. When they are together, they appear to be caught up in each other as though the rest of the world weren’t there.
A few times each week, my postal carrier comes to my door because there’s too much mail to fit in my curbside mailbox. I’m usually working at the desk in my study which looks out over the front lawn. From my vantage point, I can see when anyone is coming toward the house and meet them at the door before they’ve made it up the stairs to the porch. From the door, I’ll greet him and exchange pleasantries. He always closes the conversation by tilting his head as he looks me in the eye and with his bright smile says, “I appreciate you.” At first, I thought that was his way of saying “thank you” for coming to the door so quickly so that he didn’t have to wait. But then he said it to me when I happened to be in the yard when he delivered the mail as well as to a neighbor as I spoke to her when he gave her mail.
“I appreciate you.” The man doesn’t even know me. Or, he doesn’t know much about me – just about the mail that arrives at my home. Other than his work or seeing him at the grocery, we wouldn’t know each other at all. Yet, he appreciates me. Even more importantly, he seems to appreciate others who come into his life and says so.
“I appreciate you.” The phrase is indeed something simple. It’s something barely noticeable. Yet, it communicates something awe-inspiriting.
Dictionary.com offers several definitions of “appreciate.” They include:
1. to be grateful or thankful;
2. to value or regard highly;
3. to be fully conscious of; be aware of;
4. to raise in value.
Consider what it means to be grateful or thankful for others. I’m not merely referring to the others we like or consider “loved ones.” What would it be like for you and for me to appreciate each person we encounter? What are the implications for valuing and regarding highly people we meet throughout our day? Are we conscious and aware of them? Or do we pass them by as though they don’t exist? In learning to appreciate others, to be thankful for their existence, to be conscious of their presence in our lives, do we raise the value we hold for life? All life? Their lives as well as our own lives?
“I appreciate you.” Yes, it’s truly a simple statement. But taken seriously, it’s a way to live with a new consciousness of the awesomeness we share in this human journey.
As I think of the odd-looking fellow who delivers my mail each day, I’m reminded that some of the best spiritual teachers are those we simply meet along life’s journey. It’s the example of people in our lives that can invite us to something more than we’ve hoped for or imagined possible in our day to day exchanges. Indeed, I have to say about my postal carrier, “I appreciate you!”
