On the one hand, I suppose it would be appropriate to have a blog about Thanksgiving, with it just having happened and all.
On the other hand, I feel like that could be a bit trite.
Hmm…
…oh well. Appropriate, trite, or otherwise, read if you dare.
My mom showed me a meme the other day that said “What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?”
And, quite regardless of one’s thoughts on God (i.e. revolving around the possibility of His/Her/Its/Their/Whatever/??? existence), I think it’s still a very interesting point:
In short: Perhaps we only deserve the things that we are grateful for.
Hmm.
We only deserve the things that we are grateful for.
It’s a very different mindset than we’re used to here in the West. The more typical idea around here is that you either work hard for what you have, or else you just get lucky. And either way, that’s just how it is.
If you just get lucky, then the universe/fate/God/karma/coincidence/??? must have good designs for you, and that’s worth being grateful for, isn’t it?
And if you work hard for what you have, then all the more so; perhaps there is even more room to be grateful: In this case, no, there may not be a specific person or entity that you need to explicitly “thank,” per se, but…I wonder if gratitude is something more than just a simple Thank-you and a smile and a handshake.
Rather, I tend to think that thankfulness is more about acknowledging the journey. People often say things along the lines of “It’s not the destination that matters; it’s the journey.” Most people, I suppose, would say that they agree with this, at least passively. Really though, I think that this idea is all about thankfulness, just as much as it may be about embracing the moment and learning from experience and all the other ideals that people more typically draw out of it.
What I mean is, perhaps we could say: Being thankful is how you make the journey matter more than the destination.
Or else maybe: Being thankful is how you continue to make the journey matter more than the destination, even after you’ve reached the destination.
Maybe this topic is trite to discuss, but I think – at least, I very much hope – that being thankful in our lives will never become cliché.
So then, I have to ask: What if you woke up today with only the things you expressed gratitude for yesterday?
Because maybe those are the only things you deserve.
Thoughts?
Cheers,
Aaron
