Gratitude

Gratitude: the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful.

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful.
Buddah

H. U. Westermayer:
The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.

I might add the charity the Native American people showed in saving the pilgrims was repaid in the genocide of their own people. It is easy to create a day called thanksgiving when the people who made the day possible were ruthlessly slaughtered and removed from their own land. Are the native people for whom Thanksgiving was made possible grateful today? Forced to relocate to areas where sustainable life was all but impossible, murdered tortured and raped along the way, is this what they have become thankful for? Their culture annihilated, dismantled and ultimately discarded. Among the first victims of large scale biological war,i given blankets that were supposed to provide comfort and warmth, instead laced with influenza. What gratitude do the native people owe to the pilgrims, in what act of faith and charity are the native people to find gratitude?

Try and find a native american on the east coast today, is this gratitude for the sacrifices their people made to accommodate the pilgrims?



What is it that we are most thankful for, what in our own world brings a sense of gratitude? So often I hear a variety of reasons to be grateful, for health, prosperity, family, life. We are told to be grateful for the gift of life, to express gratitude for the lot in life we are born to, whether rich or poor. Of course I can only write from the standpoint of being born into relative wealth, so I can be grateful for the chance to live a life where I can aspire to be more, to have more, to become more. I was not born into poverty, I was not born into squalor, or into violence. I was not born to the victim of rape, incest, or unwillingness. I was born into a white middle class American household with two loving parents, indeed I have something to be grateful for. I have not suffered starvation, violence, or physical hardship, nor have I been the victim of acts of criminality. My race has never been threatened, or enslaved, I have never feared persecution because of the way I look. I have been “free” to chose my own path, to create a future somewhat of my own choosing. Yes, I am grateful for my life for I have not known true hardships.

Should we all be grateful for what we have? I have life therefore I am grateful? I can say yes, but is that because of the life I born into? Would I feel the same being born into starvation, captivity, or oppression, could I wake each morning thankful to be alive? A buddist monk in captivity during Vietnam claimed that sometimes all he had was a blue sky to be grateful for, and for him it was enough. Gratitude to me it seems is some what subjective, what one is grateful for another takes for granted. Often times I have heard people talk about their travels to impoverished parts of the world, and even though the people have no material wealth they seem happy and grateful for the life they have. Some comment that they seem in general happier than the people here in the United States, they just do not have the burdens that wealth apparently brings. But, when asked if they would kindly trade places, the answer is a resounding no. The question begs to be asked, if I was stripped of all my material wealth, subjected to poverty and starvation, or violence and oppression, would I still have gratitude? Would I still consider my life full of blessings, or would the blue sky be enough?

In the realm of spirituality it is said that if we are grateful, if we give thanks for what we have we will be blessed. Blessed with what? Is gratitude a gateway to receiving more in life, and how is more defined. Is the purpose of expressing gratitude another selfish act to gain peace for oneself for what one has in their life that someone else may not have? Often times I think we are thankful that our life is not like someone else’s, thank goodness that did not happen to me! Because I expressed thanks for the life I have been given, does that somehow spare me from the burdens that afflict millions of other people? Have I really been more grateful for my gift of life that it has entitled me to have more than another? I would like to think this is not the case, and that the expression of true gratitude is because we all share a common humanity, and a desire to see all of our fellow creatures live a life free from pain and suffering. I do not believe my life has been full of opportunities because I have expressed gratitude for the gift of life, although I am grateful for the life I was born into. I cannot say I would feel the same if born into different circumstances, maybe I would just say thanks for a blue sky and maybe it would be enough.

---

I have been thinking much lately on the concept of health care in the US, and where we stand on the issue as a nation. What obligation do we really have to one another? What role should our government play in taking care of its citizens? What responsibility do we have as more than just Americans to take care of one another? What role do we have as human beings to make sure we all have food, decent shelter, and access to health care?

Right now, somewhere in this country, someone is trying to make the decision as to whether they can afford to have an operation or procedure that would save their life, or the life of a loved one. Somewhere out there someone is being denied care or medication because life's events have given them a preexisting condition. Some people are even born with a preexisting condition which denies them care for a lifetime (a lifetime often cut short.) Since when is affordability a condition of life?

Our nation's poor are accused of wrecking the health care system by taking advantage of emergency room care. They are accused of using ambulatory services to get a sick child to the hospital for perceived minor illness. Has anyone of us ask what we would do if our child, spouse, brother, sister, mother or father was sick and needed care? Would you sit and watch a loved one suffer because you did not have the money to see a doctor? Would you not do anything to ease the sickness and suffering of someone you loved? What if you had no car, no access to mass transit, would you call for help? Why is it when someone is labeled poor their life and the lives of their loved ones is considered too high a price to pay. Does labeling them poor, or immigrants deny them of their humanity? Is it easier to blame the poor for their lot in life, to say they deserve to be where they are because they just did not work hard enough?


No one asks to be poor, no one wakes up in the morning and says, " I really hope I can be poor today." When is the last time you talked to someone about their goals, hopes and dreams, and they answered, " I wish to be poor, I hope to not be able to provide food, clothing, shelter or medical care for myself and my family?" I have never heard, " I have always dreamed of living in squalor, and imagined watching my children cry hungry every night before retiring to floor to sleep for the night.

Kennedy asked "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what can you do for your country." Isn't it time we start asking what our country has done for us, what services our tax dollars are paying for. Isn't it time to ask why we have poverty in this nation, why children are starving, why the sick cannot get the care they need? It is not because there is a lack of food, medicine or money!

Color, race, ethnicity, occupation should be be differences we celebrate among each other, not standards to dictate someone's lot in life. For all the differences among us, for all the unique characteristics we all embrace, they are a cause for celebration, but are turned into rallying calls to label someone as less. How is one human being less then another, how is someone's culture or race used as a valuation for their worth as a human being?

We have placed labels on people so we do not have to look at them as real human beings, we hold accountable those who have no means to support themselves, we blame them for being born into poverty. The cycle has to stop, poverty should not be an acceptable casualty of capitalism, we owe more to each other. We owe more to each other not because we are Americans, not because we are white, black, or any other color, race or religion. We owe more to each other simply because we share a common humanity!

More Than Just

More than just an American, more than just a male or female, black white, yellow, or brown. More than just another cog in the workforce, more than a husband, wife, boyfriend, or girlfriend.
we are human

More than just an athlete, a runner, or a coach. More than a just another senseless label. More than a member of this organization or that club, more than just a political party. More than republican, democratic, green, or independent.
We are human.

More than just from here or there, more than just an alumni of this institution or that. More than just another senseless label excluding us from this organization or that one.
We are Human.

More than just a reflection of cars, clothing, housing, or employment. More than just a title, position, or trade. More than just another senseless label devaluing the commonality of us all.
We Are Human.

So Much More than all the senseless titles, boundaries and borders, religions and affiliations. SO MUCH MORE.
We Are Human!

Names

What’s in a name really? More than just the sounds of consonants and vowels, more than just the symbols drafted on paper, what is a name really? Are we defined by the name we are given, is our path set as to what someone might call us. I tend to think not, far more are we defined by the actions of our character and heart than that of the symbols used to describe us.

What is a name really? Is it just a collection of symbols to give a vocal calling, or is it more?
If I would choose a name for myself, what meaning would I strive to give it.

What would I want people to think when they hear my name. Khaleel - a name meaning friendship - sounds great. Or, is it more important to create the meaning I want people to see in me. When people hear my name, what meaning resonates for them.

Does my name bring up images of peace, maybe Ghandi, or of courage Toussaint L‘Ouverture? Do I resonate passion, say Eva Cassidy? How about an inspiration for generations - Che Guevara, Araminta Ross? Do the sounds of my phonetics conjure up images of innovation and invention, say maybe Rudolph Diesel or Thomas Edison.

How does my name resonate in those who chose to know me, what is it I represent? Perhaps a great thinker - Plato, Aristotle, or even Socrates? An artist, Picasso perhaps? Will my name stand up against injustice, George Washington Williams, or E.D. Morel? Will there be images of salute - Tommie Smith and John Carlos?

What symbols will be used to represent me in the future, will pictures paint my life, and will my name be used to justify greats acts of humanity, and death and destruction on an unimaginable scale, Yehoshua?

What is really in a name, what do the characters used to represent you really say about you. I can choose no other name than that which I was given. It is my responsibility to give meaning to my name, to create the images I most want to represent.

When people hear my name, what most do I want them to take with them Kindness, Compassion, Hope and Inspiration? I wish not to be renamed, I wish to stand as who I am, to create a legacy that is uniquely mine. If my identity must be hidden by a pseudo name then have I created a legacy that I can stand behind, that creates sense of purpose and meaning?

Call me for who I am, let my symbols be symbolic of what I am!