“I appreciate you, brother.”
The apartment complex where I live has a mail room where I retrieve my mail once or twice weekly. I usually don’t encounter anyone. It’s just me in the room and general vicinity for the few seconds it takes to walk in, unlock my mailbox, collect mail if there is any, and walk out to the elevator door.
A few months ago, while exiting the mail room, a dude and his large dog were approaching. They were 50-100 feet away, so not close enough to where it was instinctual to hold the door open for them. On this particular day, I decided to hold the door open.
When he was a few feet away, he said, “I appreciate you, brother.”
A “thank you” is always sufficient in these situations and makes me smile on the inside, if not on the outside. This dude, whom I had never seen before, took it further. The word appreciate is more profound than the phrase thank you. Is it simply because it’s used far less often? Adding brother was the cherry on top.
With a tiny change in wording, this dude made me feel more appreciated by this gesture than most previous ones I’ve made.
The next time you have an opportunity to help someone—even if it’s just holding the door open for a guy and his dog—act on it. You and the person being helped will feel an instant boost of joy. You may even be the angel that turns around someone’s bad day.