Gratitude

Picture found at: http://imubuddhistsociety.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html


Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and make good your vows to the Most High. Psalm 50:14

November is Gratitude Month. That makes sense, for the day we most look forward to this month is Thanksgiving.

I don’t think Thanksgiving should be a day or a month, though. It seems to me it ought to be a way of life – a life ordered towards the appreciation of all that is.

At first that seems reasonable. We are thankful for family, friends, and jobs (if we have them). We are thankful for clothes on our backs, roofs over our heads, and food on our tables (if we have them). We are thankful for when the weather becomes more temperate, when water is abundant, and when the hum of mosquitoes becomes scarcer.

There is much to be thankful for in the world of nature and relationships, goodies and sustenance.

But how about when things aren’t so good? Can we be thankful – truly thankful – when life cuts a rotten deal; when health fails and one has no insurance; when year two of unemployment becomes year three; or when those one trusted fail yet again to meet one’s needs and expectations? What of life then? Can one still be thankful?

The answer, I believe, is a resounding “YES”!

I do not look at life through rose colored glasses, by the way. I have been around the block enough to know how many cracks there are in the sidewalk. I know how easy it is to trip and stumble, and experience the horrors of evil.

I know how often seemingly good people can do insanely bad things to one another, and how often bad people continue to do bad things and seemingly never get caught!

Believe me, the Grand Hall of Resentments is probably one of the bigger rooms in my basement; it is easily the favorite space in which to romp and play, but I find it an arena where it is best to keep the door closed and barred, and from which one is wisest to simply stay away.

I’m tempted to think of it as a harmless rec-room, but in reality, I know it is a wreck-room, so I choose to avoid that wing entirely.

I am not as successful at staying away as I would like, of course. I have discovered many paths in life take me there, so I have had to learn how to pass it by for mental health’s sake and for the sake of those around me.

No, I know that life is hard and that many things in life are unfair. We will turn our clocks back an hour when Standard Time resumes, but we cannot turn back the hands of time itself. What is done is done, and what is done cannot be undone – that is both as it is and as it should be.

I don’t think there is anyone who doesn’t have regrets over what has happened, or things they’ve done or left undone, and yet it would be a mistake to try to gloss over those events or deny them, or to pretend they haven’t happened. Ironically, we should be happy and grateful for those things. Why?

Because, if anything, we may well discover that our experiences will be of help to others.

A friend was planning on doing some electrical work in his house. I told him about the time I went to change an outlet and got zapped. “What did you do?” he asked.

“Tried to be more careful,” I said. “But I got zapped again, so now I shut off the power at the breaker when I do electrical work.”

To this day he thinks I’m a genius, but I am not sure a genius would have gotten zapped a second time. The important thing is that a negative experience can help others if they want to listen and learn.

If they don’t? That’s why we have ERs, isn’t it?

No, while there is much of my life I would love to shut the door on and forget about, I am thankful for all that has happened – for both good and for ill – for it is all contributing towards the possibility of my one day becoming a productive member of society; and for that I am grateful in this, our world. Thank you.