Gratitude
It is a lovely day here in Wheeling, West Virginia. Since it is still April, I am well aware that it is a brief interlude in the wrestling match between winter and spring. Still, for today the temperatures will reach to the seventies highlighting the blooms on the weeping cherry tree, the forsythia and various spring flowers including the dandelions. The grass is already green and the areas of the yard which suffered some damage this winter are hosting new grass seeds which will either be food for the birds or will fill in the gaps in the lawn cover.
I am acutely aware that I have power, running, water, indoor plumbing, a full refrigerator, clean clothes, books to read and music to feed my soul. I am also aware that I have many friends who enrich my life in countless ways.
I do not have or enjoy any of these luxuries because I am intrinsically more deserving than others or because I have worked harder than others. They are gifts of the universe for which I am grateful and which I do not want to take for granted. I am also aware that all these gifts could be removed at any time. Mother nature, an act of war or some other event could remove them all. Just this morning I saw a friend who is hoping to regain mobility following a “simple” fall. All parts of his life changed following that fall. I talked to the relative of another person who is going to have to move from assisted living to a nursing home. Many in Puerto Rico and other places are still without houses or homes. Bomb and other “weapons of mass destruction”, including the human kind, determine the direction of life forces from one moment to the next in many places. Here in the United States more than 2.3 millions of people are locked up in state prisons, federal prisons, juvenile correction facilities, local jails, Indian county jails, military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment centers and prisons in U.S. territories (2017 statistics reported in prisonpolicy.org). None of these people will have the freedom to go work in their own yard or to run errands on a bike today.
There is nothing I can do today to change any of that. I can and will support certain candidates for political office. I will not be silent if I have an opportunity to invite another to consider how certain policies affect those who are most in need of our support. I will do my best not to waste resources and I will be intentional about being present with all I encounter today.
I can be grateful/give praise. I can celebrate life today.
As I recall, the poet Nikki Giovanni said in talk she gave and at which I was present, “Injustice including the unequal distribution of resources is immoral. Just as immoral is to have gifts such as food, clothing, and housing to not even bother to appreciate or enjoy them.” (Not an exact quote. This is what my memory tells me.)
Just for today I will appreciate the gifts I am freely given.
Written April 14, 2018
It is a lovely day here in Wheeling, West Virginia. Since it is still April, I am well aware that it is a brief interlude in the wrestling match between winter and spring. Still, for today the temperatures will reach to the seventies highlighting the blooms on the weeping cherry tree, the forsythia and various spring flowers including the dandelions. The grass is already green and the areas of the yard which suffered some damage this winter are hosting new grass seeds which will either be food for the birds or will fill in the gaps in the lawn cover.
I am acutely aware that I have power, running, water, indoor plumbing, a full refrigerator, clean clothes, books to read and music to feed my soul. I am also aware that I have many friends who enrich my life in countless ways.
I do not have or enjoy any of these luxuries because I am intrinsically more deserving than others or because I have worked harder than others. They are gifts of the universe for which I am grateful and which I do not want to take for granted. I am also aware that all these gifts could be removed at any time. Mother nature, an act of war or some other event could remove them all. Just this morning I saw a friend who is hoping to regain mobility following a “simple” fall. All parts of his life changed following that fall. I talked to the relative of another person who is going to have to move from assisted living to a nursing home. Many in Puerto Rico and other places are still without houses or homes. Bomb and other “weapons of mass destruction”, including the human kind, determine the direction of life forces from one moment to the next in many places. Here in the United States more than 2.3 millions of people are locked up in state prisons, federal prisons, juvenile correction facilities, local jails, Indian county jails, military prisons, immigration detention facilities, civil commitment centers and prisons in U.S. territories (2017 statistics reported in prisonpolicy.org). None of these people will have the freedom to go work in their own yard or to run errands on a bike today.
There is nothing I can do today to change any of that. I can and will support certain candidates for political office. I will not be silent if I have an opportunity to invite another to consider how certain policies affect those who are most in need of our support. I will do my best not to waste resources and I will be intentional about being present with all I encounter today.
I can be grateful/give praise. I can celebrate life today.
As I recall, the poet Nikki Giovanni said in talk she gave and at which I was present, “Injustice including the unequal distribution of resources is immoral. Just as immoral is to have gifts such as food, clothing, and housing to not even bother to appreciate or enjoy them.” (Not an exact quote. This is what my memory tells me.)
Just for today I will appreciate the gifts I am freely given.
Written April 14, 2018
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