When Did We Become so Grateful Echoistic?

Let me kick off by saying I'm not an ungrateful person. I'm not mean either (okay this may be a lie), although this post may sound like it initially. The purpose of this post is to highlight how dramatically society's idea of showing gratitude changed since social media came along just more than a decade ago.

   On Facebook one Danielle Fourie made a post, saying thanks to South African Police members for assisting her mother yesterday in exchanging a flat tire. The post wasn't just made on the daughter's timeline, but in a group (too.) The main photo on top are of the specific cops. Nothing wrong with thanking them, right?

    Especially with South Africa being such a dangerous place, a woman stranded next to the road is bound to meet a bad fate, even at small villages like Heidelberg. As such the cops' help was certainly welcome.

[Let us all pretend we're not seeing 2 out of the 3 law enforcement officers breaking their country's law by not wearing masks. Guess it's safe to say you South African citizens can stop wearing yours too.]

    The FB group the post was made in is about the little town Heidelberg, one of two towns with the same name in the country, but this one in the most-effectively run province in SA, the Western Cape that also hosts Cape Town. The cops there are generally of far better quality than that if the rest of the country, with the majority being 'Cape Coloreds' and not black cops like in the rest of SA (except maybe the Northern Cape province too.)

But a few things about the post on social media bothers me.

   When did the world get so bad that we have to thank people who simply do their job - with taxpayers paying for it - by advertising it everywhere?

There's nothing wrong with gratitude, in fact, even people getting paid to do a job like being of service, deserves and appreciate gratitude. But when does it become an over-the-top empty gesture that humiliates them?

   In 1910, on my 340th birthday (hey, if people want to believe Noah and his magic boat, then don't tell me I'm lying about my age) my Model T Ford's tire developed a puncture, a cop stopped and helped, I said thank you, and I drove on.
   He drove his way, happy he could help, and thought nothing more of it. My gratitude was sincere, he knew it, and that was enough for him and me. Next time he's in trouble, I would help him, that's how humanity worked back then. Everyone helped everyone without expecting a forbidden fruit tart or talking donkey pie as reciprocation afterwards. When life was still uncomplicated, just like in the still movies without cellular devices.

   I did not stop that day at the Diamond Advertiser's office to place an advertisement to let the whole world know I want to say thank you to a cop for his help, it would have been pure vanity on my side. I personally — and I believe you may or may not feel the same — won't like it when I help someone, for them to make a big issue out of it. Am I too humble here in my teenage years?

   I also did not take out my Kodak and took photos of cops who might not be happy with it, it is actually a slap in their face, even when they agree just to be polite. Not everyone likes the idea of being plastered all over social media just for helping someone, one may not look your best at that moment, and photos stay forever on the internet.

   Just look at a previous post of mine a day or three ago here on my blog to see how a celeb-singer in South Africa looks like on a photo he certainly regrets ending up on the internet. Our faces form part of our identity, and not all of us want our privacy infringed upon by exposing our identity to the whole world when it's not necessary. Not everyone likes the idea of being made famous for a simple genuine act of humanity. How long before we threw all our privacy away and start putting it on our resumes that we helped change a tire, look, the proof is on the internet?

   It appears as if a form of narcissism had crept into our collective psyche, where we have to advertise everything we do for the world to see. Everything is about us, we should be thanked for us thanking other people.
'Look, people! I just thanked a nurse for helping me in hospital! I'll post photos when I thank the doctor with his red eyes because he doesn't get enough sleep but I feel a crap for his wishes! Toodaladoo for now my fans!'

On a last note — and there's totally no lesson to learn in it — since public displays of what should remain between the involved parties had become the norm now, I would like to make use of this opportunity to thank the 700-year-old lady with the aggressive umbrella, who allowed me today to help her across the road after some umbrella-swinging resistance I had to overcame first.

   I'll be posting a bunch of photos later where I pose with her, also with some fruits and veggies I bought for her because she looked so poor. Even with a pumpkin on her head I place on there, like the William Tell story since it's almost Halloween, and she's only crying on there because she loves me so much. Toodaladoo till then, humble social people!