Thanks!

SOURCE:   “The B-Team Report” by Dr. Isaac Butterworth.  Newsletter of First Presbyterian Church, Wichita Falls, Texas.  November 2004.
KEYWORDS:  thanks, thanksgiving, words

Rudyard Kipling, as you know, was the author of “Jungle Book” and “Kim” and such poems as “If.”   Unlike many great writers, Kipling had opportunity to enjoy his success while he lived.  He also made a great deal of money at his trade.

On one occasion, a reporter came up to him and said, “Mr. Kipling, someone has calculated that the money you make from your writings averages more than a hundred dollars a word.”

Rudyard Kipling raised his eyebrows and said, “Really, I certainly wasn’t aware of that.”

The reporter reached into his pocket pulled out a one hundred dollar bill, and gave it to Kipling.  In a noticeably cynical tone, he then went on to say, “Here’s a hundred dollar bill, Mr. Kipling.  Now, you give me one of your hundred dollar words.”

Kipling looked at the hundred dollar bill for a moment, took it and folded it, put it in his pocket, and said, “Thanks.”

Kipling was right--wouldn’t you say?  The word thanks is certainly a hundred dollar word.  It may even be a million dollar word.  It is certainly a word that is too seldom heard, too rarely spoken, and very often forgotten.