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What People Really Mean When They Say Thank You for Your Service
Is it a heartfelt tribute or something more complicated than that?
On Veterans Day and Memorial Day, you hear it a lot. Your Facebook friends post pictures of themselves and their relatives in military uniforms, and the comments frequently include the phrase, “Thank you for your service.” It’s become the “have a nice day” of the new millennium. The number of people who sincerely mean it is questionable.
But it’s not only veterans who elicit this response. Pretty much anyone who does a job we wouldn’t want to do ourselves gets the nod.
In the wake of 9/11, people added first responders to the list of those who inspired them to express gratitude. Now that it looks like COVID is in it for the long haul, we’re thanking doctors, nurses, pharmacists, truck drivers, mail carriers, DoorDash delivery people, and grocery clerks.
Parents who hadn’t so much as cracked a book, let alone a textbook since they were in school, found themselves homeschooling and gained a new appreciation for teachers. But like veterans, the feelings the general public has about teachers are complicated.
Many people dislike teachers because of their childhood school experiences. Others resent paying property taxes to fund the…
