Gratitude, with a Capital G

For whatever reason, we have been spared the tragedies, both ecological and human, that so much of the rest of the world is enduring at this moment. We are free to go to any store of our choice and buy the necessities for our gardens and our homes and our children. We’re not waiting in line for water. Our children, for the most part, are not starving, our government is not shooting at us, and our houses have not been swept away by earthquake, tsunami or hurricane. My family is still safely where they were yesterday.

Certainly there is an economic crisis here. Some of us are still out of work and there are many more families utilizing our food banks, healthcare and resources.

We had a lot of snow this winter and that was a hardship for some folks. I’m not trying to belittle those facts. But measure for measure; is there any comparison to our brothers and sisters in Japan, or Libya, or Christchurch or Haiti or even New Orleans?

These tragedies are so massive, so unimaginable, and so unthinkable that perhaps we see only the event, not the person. We are assaulted with repetitive TV coverage of the awesome power of the tsunami and its terrible destruction. We see people running for their lives from gunfire and bombs. It becomes numbing; full of sameness. We must put a human face on those people if we are grasp the magnitude of it all. They truly are our mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and children.

Please give pause to these world wide happenings and offer whatever kind of prayer or good thoughts you deem appropriate. But also give thought to our good fortune. Be grateful for who we are and where we live, and that the sun will shine again. Love your family and your friends, and tell them you do. Share a walk or a phone call or a supper together. Teach your children to be grateful. Be a little kinder than you think you are, and by all means, live consciously.

Oh, and thanks for reading this.