I Am Thankful For You...

As we prepare for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, I am inspired and moved by the amazing work on gratitude by writer AJ Jacobs. It makes me ponder just why Thanksgiving has evolved to be way too commercial.??And why “thanks” has morphed into a mere social norm. And how a meal has eclipsed more than it should the reflection of thankfulness in our lives. The truth is that through all of the busyness and noise of our hectic days, being able to slowdown long enough to simply explore what gratitude really means for each of us is a priceless gift worth undertaking.??

Gratitude is an action that transforms what we are fortunate to have – whether it’s a lot or just barely enough -into the enlightened fullness that we have all we need. But maybe just as much, it is the realization that we rely on so many others that have two hands planted firmly on our backs helping us on our journey and pushing us forward each day.?

Just think of that slightly overcooked bite of turkey you will soon be enjoying. Do you ever realize just how many people, actions, and things that had to come together for it to materialize??Sure, we need farmers to raise the bird and store clerks to sell it to us. But what about the trucker that delivered it to the store and traveled thousands of miles – relying along the route on the millions of gas station attendants, hotels, and restaurants, who in part relied on the refiners to make the gas or the suppliers to stock the ingredients to make that trucker’s favorite midnite burger possible.

The sage, salt, and pepper you seasoned the crispy turkey skin was planted, farmed, and harvested by people you will never meet, and they depend on folks to make the glass for the containers and cargo ships to cross the seas to port. That knife that carved (or hacked) the turkey was forged by steel mill workers and were in part supplied with raw materials from miners deep underground. The oven that cooked the turkey to its perfect 165 degrees is an assortment of thousands of pieces that come from hundreds of parts manufacturers. And the assembled oven depends on workers at the electric company for power who need the miners for the fuel. The plate you eat on was another whole chain of contributors, as is the napkin on your lap, the chair you sit in, the pumpkin-scented candle, and flower centerpiece. All of it a network provided by people you will never meet but came together to make possible this holiday of thankfulness.

When you think of it this way- that single bite of turkey was in fact an entire constellation of hard work and passion of your fellow Earthlings.?People that don’t look like you. People that voted for that other person. People living in countries you can’t find on a map. People that might be richer than you or barely getting by. People that we pass each day without a thought, like ghost servants that we count on but don’t ever see.?

The point is that a single bite of turkey takes so many things to come together just right -that it’s a statistical miracle that it happens. But it does. And that is where thankfulness transcends into gratitude -true gratitude. Don’t think for a second you don’t need others or that you stand where you are because of solely your own stride. We are all built up by an interconnected network of people that are the foundation that we build our happiness upon.

So on this Thanksgiving, don’t just be thankful for the turkey or the loved-ones that sit around your table.?Rather, be thankful for the millions and millions of your neighbors -most you will never meet - that love you so much that they helped to make this moment happen. And then realize that every moment of every day is just as networked, we are just as dependent on others, and that we are but a piece of this world’s amazing puzzle. Gratitude is more than a feeling, it’s an action that turns humility into happiness and expands a few into a connected, reliant community. The key to shutting the gates of hate that is more and more prevalent these days is the love and gratitude for our neighbors, our friends, and our world.?

Or as my grandfather said to me often, “the grass isn’t greener on the other side, its greener where we water it”. Its greener where we nurture it. It grows in the vitality of gratitude.

Today really is a miracle. I am grateful for it…