Was November kind of an insane month, or is it just me? Not who’s insane (debatable), I mean, but who thinks the month has been crazy?
I’m going to be completely honest here; I’m kind of glad it’s almost over, but it’s pretty much my fault for spending too much time on Facebook watching people fight over their political beliefs. It was kinda nutty, wasn’t it? But you just have to kind of laugh it off because, let’s face it, the people who can’t laugh about it are the ones who end up going postal…or threaten to secede from the Union…whatever. So laugh, darn it! Just laugh. We’re starting to take ourselves way too seriously, if you ask me, and all this anger going around is making people say stuff that hasn’t been publicly acceptable since about the middle of the 20th century, except it sounds worse now because we should all know better.
So, here we are, on this day in the month when we all are supposed to remember to give ourselves a mental “DOH!” and offer thanks for all the things in life we’re grateful for, my attitude of gratitude pretty much all boils down to one all-encompassing thing:
I’m just grateful for each new day.
That doesn’t sound like I have much to be thankful for, does it? Well, lemme ‘splain. No, there is too much. Lemme sum up. (Sorry, this moment brought to you by the Princess Bride.) :)
Years ago, I read the book The Kite Runner by Kahled Hosseini. It was brilliantly written, one of those books that stuck with me long after I’d finished reading it, but there was one passage in particular that I remember over and above any other in the novel. It’s near the beginning of the book, when the boy, Amir, is talking to his father about sin. Baba says something to his son that I found so profound I couldn’t forget it if I tried, and whether or not you agree with him, you’ve got to admit the man makes an interesting point.
There is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. There is no act more wretched than stealing.
So, what does this have to do with being thankful? Not a damn thing. :-D But it’s not the message itself as much as the nuance of the message that leads me to my point.
I do have so many things to be thankful for, don’t get me wrong, but for me, all of those gifts hinge on a single promise, (the principle of “one” in Baba’s message – the fulcrum around which everything else revolves) and that’s each new day that I’m offered. Every other gift in my life is just a variation and a result of what I do with each twenty-four hours I’m given; time I try very hard not to take for granted, time I use to try to make me a better person – a better example to my little people, a better friend, a more compassionate person. Each new day offers the opportunity to change and to be changed by whatever it has in store for me, to be kind, to love and to be loved in return. None of those things would be possible without the chance to build – or to sometimes just wipe the slate clean and start over again – on the foundation of a new day. That’s all. I don’t take it for granted, even for a moment, because my days come standard with family, friends, health (so far!), books and books and more books. :-D And yes, there has been a lot of sadness in this year for me too, but even that has been an opportunity for me to try and find more things to be appreciative of. So, really, there’s so much to be grateful for on a daily basis that it’s just easier to be grateful for my days than to try and enumerate everything in them for which I give thanks. And that, as they say, is that.
Oh! Wait, I’m also thankful we love to look at beautiful men together too! Every day. Yeah. :-D
::bows:: I give many thanks for Levi Poulter and Paul Francis, and those gorgeous Andrew Christian boys, don’t you? AMEN!
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who’re celebrating. To those who aren’t, well, just go ahead and join in by eating yourself into a food coma! You’ll fit right in. :-D