Remember the last time you received a thank you letter? Either of the two answers to this question are sort of depressing: NO, because no one does it any more, or YES, because you can probably count on one hand the amount of TY notes that have appeared in your mailbox in the last five years.

I’m not lamenting the loss of the perfunctory act of putting thanks in writing. I’m bemoaning the absence of real thoughtfulness behind that act. Bring back the act, bring back the real intent. Even if you don’t adhere to my meaning/object philosophy will you join me in a Thank-you-letter mail mob on March 4th?

Let’s sweep thoughtfulness across the country (and to/from other countries?) with a wave of thank you notes on March 4, 2011.

Here’s how it works:

1. You think of someone (or multiple someones, should you have a pile of stamps burning a hole in your pocket) who you’d like to thank between now and March 4th. You have a month to brainstorm; this is plenty of time.

Expressed thanks can, of course, be for a tangible item said person bestowed upon you. But a random act of thanks is always nice, right? For example, I might write a letter to my veterinarian for explaining so kindly our dog’s butt situation in terms that a. helped me understand what’s actually going on, b. didn’t make me cry (or want to cry), and c. for letting me pay them with ‘real’ money via a two-month payment plan vs racking up charges on my credit card.

2. At some point on or before March 4th, draft your letter. Address it. Stamp it.

3. On March 4th: Put your letter in the mail and tweet what you’re thankful for using the hashtag #TYmailmob, or post a comment to this blog post and/or to the Facebook event page.

It’s cool to let people know you appreciate something, no matter how slight, no matter if it’s their job to do so, no matter if you’ve already thanked them verbally.

You could also post pics to Twitter and Facebook with other fun things to be thankful about, like these:

Thanks Bklyn Flea for keepin’ it real. Love, my dog IsobelHey Jenny Holzer, we appreciate you writing your notes all over the place. Thanks mama for taking me to Costa Rica.Thanks Ariel and Inbal for gifting us your wig; now we can all have a go at being Dolly Parton, year-round.