I am a fan of Paul C. Brunson and follow his blogs regularly. A few months ago he wrote, The #1 Social Media Mistake We Make, in which he discusses why it is important to respond to people that leave you a message on any social media platform (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedln) that you are using. I agree with every word! But I just don’t want to stop at social media, I want to include personal emails, texts and phone calls. My question is, “Are you really that busy?”

 Many of us are very attached to our phones, laptops, and ipads, so I always find it so interesting that some people cannot take one minute to respond to messages or return phone calls.  If someone has taken a few minutes out of his/her busy day to say hello, send a nice message, etc., the least one could do is acknowledge the act of kindness.

I remember someone I was dating telling me he loved me but at the time I did not feel the same way. I could have responded in one of several ways; I could have said, “I love you” (at that time it was not the truth), ignored the comment, or simply responded to let him know that I heard his comment /expression of love.  I chose to acknowledge the comment with thank you, a smile and a hug. It may not have been the response he wanted but I chose to acknowledge it. I love Oprah and she says this one thing that I try to remember with every interaction: “Everybody just wants to be heard and know they matter.”

Many of us have forgotten how to communicate with each other and then we wonder why we don’t have any close friends in times of need. If you cannot take the time to acknowledge an act of kindness, why should someone be there for you in your time of need? We should be in the habit of treating others the way we want to be treated.

So, the next time you get a text, email, or call from a friend, take a minute to acknowledge his/her act of kindness.  It may be what the both of you need to make it through the day!!

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.-Maya Angelou