The Value of Pennies

Money is not cheap. Last year, for instance, the United States Mint lost nearly $22 million making pennies and nickels. Yet so many of us, me included, take those same coins that we accumulate over the course of a day and week, throw them in a drawer and rarely utilize them again. Shame on me and shame on others who might do that as well. Those particular forms of currency - the cheapest ones in our economic system - have value and should be treated accordingly. While it is true a pocketful of pennies and nickels might not enable us to place a down payment on a new car or a house, they do represent a form of exchange that should not be taken lightly or dismissed out-of-hand.

Just the other day, I was at the local grocery store purchasing a few items by cash. In fact, cash was all I had. The final bill came to $4.02. I gave the grocer a five dollar bill with the expectation I would be given 98 cents back in change. Instead this very nice cashier pulled two cents out of her own pocket, placed them in the cash register and then, overriding my insistence not to do that, gave me a one dollar bill back in change. It was a very nice gesture on her part; an act of kindness that re-enforced the notion that often times it is the little things in life that ultimately turn so-so days into good ones and even make the sun shine a bit brighter than perhaps it already is. And she did it with just two pennies.

Communication is much the same way. Much like pennies and nickels, seemingly small acts of communicating can go a long way. This is why I believe so many parents try and teach their children to make "please" and "thank you" regular parts of their vocabulary. That kind of currency goes a long way, too. Someone we are with is silent and we say, "a penny for your thoughts" in the hope they will share what is on their mind while knowing we care enough to ask and then listen to what it is they have to say. I challenge any one to calculate how much that kind of exchange is worth. Yes, we all gravitate toward rolls of cash and big speeches. Make no mistake, they have their place and certainly their value. But let us not overlook or underestimate those pennies in our drawers and the seemingly inconsequential words of outreach. They, too, go a long way.