Thanksgiving is that time of year when we join together with our family and friends to appreciate the important things in our life. It can be argued that appreciation, the recognition of the good qualities of someone or something, is often in short supply in our world today. Add the hustle and bustle of the holiday season to our already over scheduled lives in an industry where we encounter people and each other in passing, it's easy to understand why we are hard pressed to genuinely appreciate the finer qualities each of us possess.
Gratitude is about more than giving thanks. It’s about returning kindness and showing appreciation to those we value for any number of reasons, some small and others more significant. Each day in our line of work we encounter hundreds of people who we, as caretakers and Safety Professionals, act in their interest to ensure the best possible experience. We work with people from all walks of life, each having a unique perspective of the travel experience and we provide compassion and care. Whether we know it or not, we make a difference in the lives of many of the people we encounter daily as we facilitate that vital connection to each other and our greater world community. This is the value we bring to the work we do every day, on every flight.
As we approach the start of a holiday season, we bring our individual talents and abilities in making a difference in the lives of others each day and in this season, especially. Tens of millions of passengers will cross the skies while in our care, and whether it’s our first leg of the day, or the last, we contribute our professional best – together.
For this, we are thankful to each other as well. We rely upon our flying partners in ways that only someone in our profession can uniquely understand. In this same spirit of Flight Attendant community, we are all also members of our greater Union community. There can be no greater example of this reliance than that demonstrated by the thousands of new hires who have joined us in the skies over the course of this past year. Regardless of whether they have previous airline experience or are just beginning a flying career, there is a sense of reliance on those who flew before them on which we have all come to depend on for our collective success.
This holiday season consider if you will, that which we appreciate, appreciates in value. Not only Thanksgiving Day, but every day, consider the impact of being generous in your gratitude. It costs so little to give, but its meaning and impact, when received, can be enormous, even life changing.
In this same spirit, know that our Union collectively appreciates each of you and we are grateful for all you do every day, on every flight. This Thanksgiving holiday, when recognizing the day in ways personal and important to you be it flying our passengers to connect with their families or you are enjoying time with your friends of family, on behalf of the entire United Master Executive Council, we wish you and yours a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving holiday.