Thanking of YouTM About Us
Decades after instilling life-changing lessons and life-long inspiration in the heart and mind of an elementary school student, two teachers unwittingly inspired the creation of ThankingOfYou.com, a Web-based movement to recognize, affirm and honor the people in our lives who have had a profound, positive impact on who we are today, and to inspire acts of greatness from others through the messages of thanks within the stories posted on-site.
"For years I'd thought about contacting Mrs. Shore and Mr. Sybil, two teachers who had each said or done something when I was a child that left a lasting, positive imprint on the person I grew to become," said Nora (Wahl) Firestone, founder of ThankingOfYou.com.
In 2006 Firestone, a freelance writer and newspaper reporter in Virginia Beach, Va., set out to find them--via phone calls to the school, phone book searches and various online sources.
"Most searches came up empty," she recalled. "Some revealed hundreds of possibilities through which to cull. I thought, it shouldn't be this difficult. I'm trying to fulfill basic needs: their need to be recognized and affirmed for how they've made a difference in my life, and my need to express gratitude."
In April, 2008 Firestone created a detailed plan: A Web site, whereby people can post their thank you stories to those who've made a difference and whereby, no matter where the recipients (or their families) roam on Earth, they can log on and learn about how they've made a difference, when, and to whom.
Features would include a "Make a charitable donation in honor of the recipient" option and a sophisticated data base system which would enable people to easily post and search by name or by such indicators as categories, dates and events, allowing even strangers to receive their stories of gratitude, and enabling people to reconnect.
Steve Van Leeuwen, head of software development for ThankingOfYou.com, proposed a social network behind the scenes--a key feature for site members who wish to connect with other grateful minds.
ThankingOfYou.com launched in March, 2009, with several Organized Group Thank Yous in the works. Group Thank Yous may be organized for any occasion, includng retirements, homecomings, birthdays, anniversaries, memorials and teachers' gifts. Writing tips abound for help getting started and membership is free. (Donations are welcome and appreciated.)
"As a writer, I understand the power of words," Firestone said. "They can illuminate those little morsels of greatness; they can inspire more greatness; they can convey the far-reaching ripple of a single act. I couldn't possibly write everybody's Thank You story. But I'm thrilled to facilitate everybody's ability to write their own.
"I believe the timing is perfect," Firestone added. "I was passionate about this from the start, but witnessing more down-heartedness than ever--with folks losing jobs or feeling like they no longer offer what the world is looking for--people need to know more about their true life's purpose. These messages are the gifts of a lifetime. They're uplifting, revitalizing and they're free.
"These are the words that never appeared at the bottom of their paychecks. These are the life-affirming perspectives they need to realize. Now they will. It's monumental."
Gratitude affirms life. Express yours at ThankingOfYou.com
Bios
Born and raised on Long Island, N.Y., Nora (Wahl) Firestone is a freelance writer and newspaper correspondent living in Virginia Beach, Va. with her loving husband and three adored children.
Firestone founded ThankingOfYou.com after a relatively extensive, yet futile attempt to contact two elementary school teachers from the district of Plainedge, Long Island. The contributions of Mrs. Shore and Mr. Sybil may have seemed small decades ago--a simple sentence or two to recognize, affirm and inspire her creative thinking in first grade; a few minutes to cheer her on when everyone else rallied for her opponent in sixth grade. But the self-discoveries born of these simple conveyances turned out to be essential tools on which the young girl would rely--and with which she'd eventually build--throughout a lifetime of challenges and creative endeavors.
Knowledge of and gratitude for these tools fostered true joy and a desire to influence others as she had been influenced--a focus which, by its nature, broadened exponentially year after year. The more grateful she was, the more for which she had to be grateful.
Firestone believes that Shore's and Sybil's contributions exemplify the small but great things people do for each other every day, often never knowing what effect they may have. These acts, words and interactions help shape us; they give us the confidence and the tools we need to carry on that day, that week, that year, that lifetime. A teacher might teach 25 students a year, for 30 years, and at the age of retirement wonder, "Did I make a difference?" In thinking about all the other people who had touched her life, Firestone realized the need for people worldwide to connect in the spirit of gratitude for each other.
Gratitude itself has been one of the most present, powerful and perpetual forces in Firestone's life, having empowered her to not only rise above a litany of challenges and adverse circumstances, but to thrive as a joyous, empathetic, motivated and influential individual despite how others might have interpreted the odds. In April, 2008, amid tremendous personal challenges and, ironically, fueled by her unwavering desire to express gratitude to those two teachers, the "big idea" dawned on her: A Web site whereby people could post their stories of gratitude for the recipients to read wherever on Earth they roam. She saw these stories being life-affirming, uplifting and even spiritually moving for their intended recipients (or their families) and inspirational models for other readers, illuminating the power of great acts--big and small--to positively affect the world in any number of infinite possible ways.
She envisioned people connecting and reconnecting via these stories, and families of the deceased reading about how their loved ones had profoundly touched the lives of others. She realized that the search for one's "life's purpose" seemed to be an innate, yet often low-yielding endeavor, as many people are inclined to search forward and not within the framework of who they already are, who they have already been to others and what they're already creating for humanity daily with every living breath.
In short, Firestone saw the ability to facilitate for others what she'd gained so much from: The perpetual force of gratitude--as recognition of what is great, affirmation that it matters and inspiration for its due continuum.
Said Firestone: "When you focus on what is good and great, you experience that which is good and great. When you experience what is good and great, you emanate and share that which is good and great. When you emanate and share that which is good and great, you inspire the focus, the acts and the emanation of goodness and greatness in others, thereby helping to fuel the amazing 'good, great gratitude machine' and facilitate fulfillment of its inherent directive to spin full-circle and freely throughout humanity."
Firestone is also the daughter of Karen and Ed, the big sister to four amazing brothers and a big fan of their beautiful respective wives and children. She holds her family and friends in high esteem and values each for their individual and exceptional offerings in the world.
Firestone's ideal day would see her immersed in harmony, creativity, productivity and love. Her ideal vacation would involve a new set of skis, elevations of 10,000 feet or higher, long and diverse fresh-powder ski trails, family, friends and newcomers, and a small terrain park designed especially for teenage snowboarders and their moms. Oh, and a cute helmet.
Gratitude affirms life. Express yours at ThankingOfYou.com
