Today I'll be celebrating Thanksgiving with my family. So naturally, I'm thinking about all my reasons to be grateful.
Also, I'm helping with our local "Do the Math" event, and thinking about the reality of poverty. I've got a full time job, but I can't afford to go to the dentist, get new glasses. I have to save up for the prescriptions I need, and for a mattress I desperately need so I can get a decent night's sleep in order to deal with the most stressful job I've ever had in my life. So I often think I'm poor. The reality is I've got it pretty good, in spite of the challenges life presents me.
Yesterday, however, I had a much different attitude. The 'check engine' light came on in my car. I admit, I lost it. I cried and cried. It was like the proverbial straw. Instead of being grateful that I've had a car (lots of folks don't), I was profoundly sad that I'm about to re-enter their ranks.
But today I read a friend's Facebook status where she describes her immense gratitude for the busted rear axle on her car... that it didn't let loose on the highway, but broke as she drove in her driveway. I'm amazed and inspired by her instant reaction of gratitude - in awe of her.
My gratitude has to be mined, dredged up from the depths of my soul, or seeded by the vision of another person's gratitude. I'm so greedy for more (of everything, money, health, happiness), I overlook what I do have:
*friends and family who love me - loneliness can kill
*hope - dreams for a better world cannot be realized without hope
*people who make me laugh - you really don't know the good you do!!
*enough - I have enough food, shelter, clothing in a world where most people do not
I hope I remember all this tomorrow....
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