Nov 22, 2023 — Cardies, by the number of thoughtful cards you send year-round, it’s easy for those of us within Cardthartic to see what caring and all-around grateful people you are. So much so that I sense you’ll be as touched as I was by a most memorable exchange I had more than a decade ago now …

I’ve shared this story with our Cardie Community before. It was a conversation I had during a half-hour ride home from the airport. As I’d slipped into the back seat of his town car, I’d complimented the driver on how immaculate and comfortable it was. As handsome and polished as his vehicle, the man thanked me profusely, saying that not everyone noticed, much less paid him the compliment. Grinning at him in the rearview mirror, I acknowledged that I tend to take nothing and no one for granted. And that was all he needed to hear …

Sitting up a bit straighter and catching my eye, he spoke in an elegant, lyrical Haitian baritone, “I am the same. But not everyone sees things our way! I recently drove a man to a meeting 90 minutes away. For the first 45 minutes, I listened to him complain about everything from the traffic to the weather to the economy to the resort where he would be staying. He had only negative, thankless things to say. Finally, I could not take it anymore. I pulled over and turned to the man and said, ‘Sir, please stop. I can no longer listen to this. I am from Haiti where, a few years ago, hundreds of thousands died in less than a minute, and many now eat dirt. Dirt, sir. They have nothing more.

“I said to the man, ‘Please be grateful for all you have.’ I asked him, ‘Do you not see that you have the comfort of this car and the money to pay me a large amount for taking you in your expensive clothes to a very exclusive hotel? Can you not see how fortunate you are?’ I told him that sometimes I pray, ‘God, you have given me so much and for this I thank you. Please, whatever you plan to give me next, give it to those still living in my homeland, for they have so little.’ I said, ‘We are blessed, sir. May we now just be quiet and ride.’”

In the coming days spent with good people sharing good food, let’s honor that grateful Haitian and the great many people struggling throughout the world … let’s enjoy to the fullest all the pleasures of the peaceful time we have together, along with the sure sense that we are truly blessed in this country.

Thanks for being the sort of person who not only gets this, but lives it. Cardies, at Cardthartic, we see you as blessings through and through!

Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative

Nov 22, 2023 — Cardies, by the number of thoughtful cards you send year-round, it’s easy for those of us within Cardthartic to see what caring and all-around grateful people you are. So much so that I sense you’ll be as touched as I was by a most memorable exchange I had more than a decade ago now …

I’ve shared this story with our Cardie Community before. It was a conversation I had during a half-hour ride home from the airport. As I’d slipped into the back seat of his town car, I’d complimented the driver on how immaculate and comfortable it was. As handsome and polished as his vehicle, the man thanked me profusely, saying that not everyone noticed, much less paid him the compliment. Grinning at him in the rearview mirror, I acknowledged that I tend to take nothing and no one for granted. And that was all he needed to hear …

Sitting up a bit straighter and catching my eye, he spoke in an elegant, lyrical Haitian baritone, “I am the same. But not everyone sees things our way! I recently drove a man to a meeting 90 minutes away. For the first 45 minutes, I listened to him complain about everything from the traffic to the weather to the economy to the resort where he would be staying. He had only negative, thankless things to say. Finally, I could not take it anymore. I pulled over and turned to the man and said, ‘Sir, please stop. I can no longer listen to this. I am from Haiti where, a few years ago, hundreds of thousands died in less than a minute, and many now eat dirt. Dirt, sir. They have nothing more.

“I said to the man, ‘Please be grateful for all you have.’ I asked him, ‘Do you not see that you have the comfort of this car and the money to pay me a large amount for taking you in your expensive clothes to a very exclusive hotel? Can you not see how fortunate you are?’ I told him that sometimes I pray, ‘God, you have given me so much and for this I thank you. Please, whatever you plan to give me next, give it to those still living in my homeland, for they have so little.’ I said, ‘We are blessed, sir. May we now just be quiet and ride.’”

In the coming days spent with good people sharing good food, let’s honor that grateful Haitian and the great many people struggling throughout the world … let’s enjoy to the fullest all the pleasures of the peaceful time we have together, along with the sure sense that we are truly blessed in this country.

Thanks for being the sort of person who not only gets this, but lives it. Cardies, at Cardthartic, we see you as blessings through and through!

Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative