I’m so thankful.

I write that a lot. Mostly in the emails I send people. That’s because I’m usually thanking them for doing something I requested. Submitting a column or news release. Or agreeing to an interview. But that’s also because I really am. Thankful, that is.

Not that print journalism is all rainbows and unicorns. It’s sometimes tedious and nearly always demanding. No less daunting, the deadlines never cease. Never. I admit there are occasions — usually in the frantic final hours before the paper must be completed — I wonder why anyone would want to do this. Most of the time, though, I’m amazed I actually get paid to do this. To write copy and design pages. Even more amazing, to meet the most interesting people and tell their remarkable stories.

So in this season of thanksgiving, I’m thankful for the opportunity to give thanks. To my boss, advertisers, contributing columnists and especially the readers who all make it possible for me to do what I do.

Actually, I’m a big fan of gratitude the year round. Of acknowledging jobs well done and butts busted to do them. It’s not like I invented the proverbial gratitude wheel, though. Savvy business owners and managers know the power of saying thank you. It’s simple: People appreciate being appreciated. It makes them want to reciprocate.

Cindy McGovern, founder and chief executive officer of Orange Leaf Consulting, wrote the book on this and other related topics in offering her advice about motivating employees and customers. McGovern said she’s sent thank-you notes to every client, employee and vendor with which she’s ever done business. I wrote a column a couple of years in which I mentioned McGovern’s work. She sent me a thank-you note.

I recently received a newsletter from McGovern in which she extended the concept of gratitude even further to include rejection and what we don’t get. Whether that’s a dream job or promotion or big sale — or getting called out for poor performance. Those situations afford opportunities, McGovern contends, for people to learn something and apply it to the next situation.

I was arrogant enough after I graduated from college to believe I should work at a big daily newspaper. That I was too talented to waste my efforts at some little weekly. Of course, that’s exactly were I ended up after so many fruitless job interviews with editors who were right to be skeptical.

But my work at a series of small town papers taught me more about journalism than I thought possible — and in places where journalism has the biggest effects. And it eventually led to the bigger and better things I thought I deserved. Including the Business Times.

In a season of thanksgiving — and the rest of the year for that matter — I’m thankful for so many opportunities to give thanks. For all the good stuff to be sure. But also some of the bad.

Phil Castle is editor of the Business Times. Reach him at phil@thebusinesstimes.com or 424-5133.