Why We Dont Say, Thank You!
K2: Why We Dont Say, Thank You!
12 January, 2011 - How many times have we verbally thanked our parents?
The number, if any, would be shockingly low, because Bhutanese people are not accustomed to the tradition of thanking people, especially their loved ones. Why so? Do we not feel thankful? Thank you is a polite expression of ones gratitude. Gratefulness, appreciation, and gratification are some emotions that would usually have people say thank you to others. Bhutanese people, like others, do experience these feelings, but unlike others, Bhutanese people rarely express their thankfulness out loud. The problem isnt that people in this nation do not feel thankful. The issue here is with our lack of verbal expressiveness.Pem Zam recently finished her studies. Her parents and elder sisters had paid for her education and other expenditure up until now. She is grateful and considers herself lucky to be surrounded by them. She has however never verbally thanked them. Im thankful, but Im not used to saying thank you to them, she said. So I thank them by helping them. In western culture, courtesy words like thank you, sorry and please are very crucial and used very often. This is their way of letting others know that they are thankful. A tour operator, Tsewang Nidup, lives between these two cultures on a daily basis while dealing with tourists. While Americans have been used to hearing and saying thank you, we trust actions more than words, he said. Therefore, most Bhutanese people expect thank you in the form of actions. According to Gary Chapman, the author of The Five Love Languages, there are five ways of expressing love; words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, acts of service and physical touch. In this context, one could say Bhutan in general counts on acts of service, while the western culture counts on words! of affi rmation. This is just a generalisation of the two cultures however. Another travel operator, Phuntsho Norbu, who has studied in America for seven years, shares the same view about Bhutans limited expressiveness. Bhutanese people take things for granted and they dont find it necessary to use words like thank you and sorry, he said. With globalisation, cultures come across each other and find the other hard to comprehend. Therefore, it is crucial to know the differences, while still valuing ones own culture. There is no such thing as a better culture, there are just different cultures.
12 January, 2011 - How many times have we verbally thanked our parents?The number, if any, would be shockingly low, because Bhutanese people are not accustomed to the tradition of thanking people, especially their loved ones. Why so? Do we not feel thankful? Thank you is a polite expression of ones gratitude. Gratefulness, appreciation, and gratification are some emotions that would usually have people say thank you to others. Bhutanese people, like others, do experience these feelings, but unlike others, Bhutanese people rarely express their thankfulness out loud. The problem isnt that people in this nation do not feel thankful. The issue here is with our lack of verbal expressiveness.Pem Zam recently finished her studies. Her parents and elder sisters had paid for her education and other expenditure up until now. She is grateful and considers herself lucky to be surrounded by them. She has however never verbally thanked them. Im thankful, but Im not used to saying thank you to them, she said. So I thank them by helping them. In western culture, courtesy words like thank you, sorry and please are very crucial and used very often. This is their way of letting others know that they are thankful. A tour operator, Tsewang Nidup, lives between these two cultures on a daily basis while dealing with tourists. While Americans have been used to hearing and saying thank you, we trust actions more than words, he said. Therefore, most Bhutanese people expect thank you in the form of actions. According to Gary Chapman, the author of The Five Love Languages, there are five ways of expressing love; words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, acts of service and physical touch. In this context, one could say Bhutan in general counts on acts of service, while the western culture counts on words! of affi rmation. This is just a generalisation of the two cultures however. Another travel operator, Phuntsho Norbu, who has studied in America for seven years, shares the same view about Bhutans limited expressiveness. Bhutanese people take things for granted and they dont find it necessary to use words like thank you and sorry, he said. With globalisation, cultures come across each other and find the other hard to comprehend. Therefore, it is crucial to know the differences, while still valuing ones own culture. There is no such thing as a better culture, there are just different cultures.
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