rainbowkinect

Can you imagine planning a significant life’s event, perhaps a wedding, a retirement party or maybe a milestone birthday party? You are so excited by this momentous occasion so what better way to celebrate than to surround yourself with your loving family and friends. You go all out. The perfect place, the scrumptious food, that stunning dress. You can hardly contain your excitement as you primp and prepare for that very special day.  And let’s not forget about the expense of it all but it’s worth it, every cent, every shekel.

The night of the great event you can hardly contain your excitement. The butterflies have taken flight and are replaced by tidal waves of emotions. You hope against hope that everything goes smoothly as planned.  The RSVPs have all been returned and thankfully most of the invited guests are coming. As you look around, you can’t believe how beautiful the room looks. The place settings look magnificent.  As the fading sunlight streams through the half drawn curtains the last vestiges of daylight casts a warm glow over the entire room.

The first guests begin to arrive, fashionably late but they’re here. The DJ starts spinning his magic and the room comes alive. The hors d’oeuvres start to flow, the music is pumping and the dance floor is hopping.  Life is good.

As the evening progresses, you begin to notice the empty tables. Taking silent inventory of the guest list, you begin to realize that some of your close friends and relatives are no shows. Did something unexpectedly happen?  Was there a car accident? With every head turn you look with anticipation for that missing guest or guests I should say. Didn’t they realize that you have to pay for these no shows? If they would have declined the invitation the head count could have been adjusted prior to submitting the confirmed list a week ago and that would have been fine. It’s hard to understand the empty chairs when they said they were coming. Who does that??? You are so disappointed.

It appears that in today’s world, a “no show” seems like standard operating procedure. If you wake up that morning and “don’t feel like going” it’s become acceptable not to go. Acceptable to whom I wonder. Certainly not to me!  If everyone decided at the very last minute not to attend a special event, we’d all be standing there by ourselves. Your word should mean something. We need to operate with integrity, honor, and more importantly by practicing the golden rule. How would YOU like it if a significant number of your invited guests failed to show up? How would that make you feel?  The sense of devastation, rejection and disappointment cannot be measured. I do believe that life happens and in some instances, there may be a real and compelling reason for a no show, but that should be rare.  Unfortunately a cavalier attitude has become the norm.  Think before you send in that RSVP. Remember someone’s special day is on the other side of that invitation.  Always consider that someone values you enough to want you to share in the joy and happiness of their special day.  It’s truly an honor so enjoy!