Gratitude. A tribute to Johnny Stack (2000-2019)

It is January 2020.

The Indians have celebrated Ponggal (this festival is celebrated as a thanksgiving ceremony for the year's harvest) and its the weekend of Chinese New Year.

It is reminding again and again, about gratitude and to celebrate to goodness in life.

I could not help but tear as I write this. This is a tribute to my friend Laura Stack in US who lost her 19 year old son two months ago. This young gentleman, a kind loving soul took his life at the age of 19. I have been clueless as to how to even console his mother who is miles away from me. It took me awhile before I could even send her a message on Facebook.

Laura, found the work of Johnny after he left on his computer and there was one homework that was about his values.

Here is what he wrote about the values :

1. Altruism - To me, altruism means being selfless or giving to other people, even when there may be nothing to gain and something to lose. Altruistic people do things for the collective interest instead of their own.

2. Patience - In my own words, I would say patience means being able to wait, even in stressful and infuriating situations, often to achieve a better result.

3. Conviction - I think conviction means showing confidence in what you believe in and know is the truth, and to stand by it.

4. Enthusiasm - Enthusiasm is approaching every obstacle or situation with the utmost of optimism and cheerfulness.

5. Gratitude - Simply put, expressing gratitude is showing you’re thankful for what you have, or a kind act.

Here is a page out of his 'Gratitude' collection that he had.

One may ask, why Gratitude? I too was trying to find answers as to why. For me, it has been something very important part of my journey and I spent the last few years advocating it on LinkedIn. But I still get folks who say, yea I am grateful, but I can't find why it is so important and why we should focus so much on it.

Here is something I found to explain a little on 'Why Gratitude'.

Here is something that is profound to me. It is being gratitude that brings happiness and not the other way around. And to be grateful, it is not about the free meal or the free coffee or the random gift you got. Remember, there is always a person behind all this act, and it is our responsibility to acknolwdge that. Being grateful is not always about what happen to us but to always bless and say thank you to the someone who made it possible. Nothing ever happens out of nowhere. There is always a person behind it.

And I really really love how Johnny found gratitude in the simple things in life. Pool, gym, laundry, sunshine, use of brain and memory, running water, balcony and family and the list goes on. We (I cant generalise and say all but most of us) take so many of these for granted.

Here is my request, please look for all the things that make living a possibility. We take too many things for granted. I have someone I love who needed cornea transplant to continue to have a vision and that makes me so so grateful to the person who donated their cornea and I continue to be grateful for being able to walk, see, hear, eat and run. May sound mundane and silly, but it is real. What we have is real and we need to say big thanks to the blessings we have in life.

Life, can be a roller coaster, but in the midst of all that, find the little things like sunshine to say thanks too.

Thank you Laura, for allowing me to share and use Johnny's work to talk on Gratitude.

May he rest in peace with his Maker.