My friend Lucy initiated an advent calendar of gratitude for November, and I decided to participate as well. I'll update this about every five days.
1.) I am grateful for Life. Not much else counts in this world if you're dead. Whether or not there's an afterlife, your corpse can't enjoy what pleasures and delights can be had on this planet. As the Teacher says in Ecclesiastes: 9:4-10 Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten. 6 Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun. 7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. 8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. 9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
2.)I am grateful for Liberty. What good is life if you are not free to live it as you please? These days the maxim that you are most grateful for the things you've lost is becoming more and more true, and as our freedoms erode, I can only be thankful for those I still have.
3.)I am grateful for Gratitude.
Yes, meta-gratitude. It's important, for it's a form of humility that perhaps shows the greatest strength. When you show thankfulness, you acknowledge the greatness of others, and when you receive it, it is a most wondrous feeling.
4.) I am grateful for Family.
While it is true that I look at my family (and they look at me) and wonder how I came to be, I still love them dearly. Particularly now, as I go through a difficult time in my life, I am glad that I have them around to support me (i.e. let me freeload).
5.) I am grateful for Friends.
My second family. Just like my first one, there are some who are most distant, while there are those I see all the time. And I love them all. I do not make friends quickly, for the most part, unless there is that instant connection. For I am shy and retiring, modest, and not prone to speaking (unless libations open me up). The friends I do have made it through that barrier and have access to my more inner self; ask, and I will likely tell you. They made it through only because I think they are the most wonderful people I have met, and after my recent graduation, the pang of long and frequent separation from them is most keenly felt.
6.) I am grateful for the Arts, the best being Music.
The more I think of it, the less I believe that one's physical self can live without art. I'll save myself from waxing poetic, but I'll let this article explain.
7.) I am grateful for Literature.
My first ardent desire was to be a writer, ever since I was in the 1st grade (or kindergarten). My first story was a fable involving a pumpkin. From then to now, I've written all manner of things, even a novella that wasn't half bad (but it also wasn't half good). Now I write poetry and librettos. Literature has never been about escapism for me: if I want to escape, I prefer more immediate means like a TV or music. Rather, it is the artistic ordering of life, the vivification of the mundane and the beautification of the ugly, that I love about literature. My favorite novel, "Don Quixote," captures this best, as it isn't about a man escaping into his fantasies of knights, but dealing with the worst of life head on, the worst being Death itself.
8.) I am grateful for my Health.
Let me get it out of the way: there are plenty of things about my physical self I dislike. I am prone to heaviness, and the fat tends to collect around my waist and face; I have frequent, often hindering headaches; my eyesight isn't the best; I can tire easily; I don't think I have the best looks (though I do think I have some handsomeness). However, the most heinous issue I've had with my health was a bout of gut pains for a few weeks last summer. Otherwise, I'm doing pretty well. When I see wheelchair bound people, or hear about those for whom the hospital is a second home, I feel both pity for them and thankfulness that, despite the problems I have with my body, it still functions well enough to let me live as I would like.
9.) I am grateful for my Brain.
For most of my life I have been known as "the smart one," even though I was friends with a guy who was more worthy of that title. I have yet to understand the nature of my intellect, for there is a constant dialectic between the rational and emotional (or, a battle between what I know is right and what I think is nice), and just when I think one side is the more prominent, the other stands up and says not so fast. But whatever problems it presents, my intellect is supposedly one of my defining features, and for that I am thankful.
10.) I am grateful for Sleep.
It is pretty much the one constant part of your life where you don't have to deal with other people's BS. If you experience something in your slumbers, it is of your doing; if it is good, then try to enhance, if it is bad, try to eliminate it. One of the safest feelings I have is lying underneath all my blankets (as long as I can keep the bad thoughts away).
11.) I am grateful for Light.
Dark, dreary days can bring out my homebody ways, and I'm thankful for that, but I have a strong and sensitive reaction with light of a both concrete and abstract nature. Seasonal depression can affect me greatly during the winter, particularly when I do not have things to distract me; and I'm happier in the mornings where soft sunlight breezes into my bedroom. More often than not, light actually lessens the pain of my headaches. I love art that gives off a shimmer, has a warmth, or is otherwise bright. I have something of a personal Trinity, which is Life, Liberty, and Light, which I find links up with the Holy Trinity quite nicely, for God created us, Jesus set us free, and the Holy Spirit, to me, descends upon us as light.
11.b) I am also grateful for Night.
God saw it fit to have night within a day, so should we also not accept it? For that which is dark will fade into darkness, but that which has even a little light will still stand out, even a bit. Night therefore gives us a piercing, confirmatory perspective on what light can reveal. Plus, there is much beauty in this part of the day.
12.) I am grateful for (Real) Money.
Money makes the modern world possible. It is a step up from the barter system, whereby one could only acquire an item or service through direct trade (or making/doing it yourself), and which could only take mankind so far.
I am NOT grateful for fiat currencies, which is what has allowed many of our modern ailments, such as depraved and massive warfare, hyper-inflation, etc.
13.) I am grateful that I have too many things to be grateful for.
I would save this for Thanksgiving, but I'd probably forget. Perhaps it is also a cop-out, since I couldn't really decide on something. But there is so much that is good in my life that I do not even see it all yet; that is why we say hindsight is 20/20.
14.) I am grateful that my best friend for many years is a Jehovah's Witness.
This may be an odd thing to be grateful for, but from my friendship I learned many things:
a.) Tolerance/Acceptance.
It's one thing to know a Catholic or Lutheran - they're everywhere. But unless they are about, one doesn't meet too many Witnesses, and they are a different sort of Christian. Not that I would be a bigot now if we hadn't been friends, but in dealing with questions like why Witnesses don't celebrate Christmas, you learn that there are many ways to view things.
b.) Learning that there are many ways to view things.
If you don't know the beliefs of Witnesses, I suggest looking them up. At the least, you will get a different version of Christianity, which goes against the grain of many other denominations.
c.) Respect, and how to earn it.
Not just showing it, but earning it. My friend's parents were cautious of letting their son hang out with anyone, and it took a while for me to gain enough respect to become a trusted friend of the whole family. And in doing this, they gained my respect.
d.) Maintaining a principled stance.
Perhaps Witnesses are too rigid in their beliefs, but to paraphrase G.K. Chesterton, should we be so open in our beliefs that our brains fall out of our heads? Despite some unfortunate comments from our peers, my friend never backed down from what he thought was right.
15.) I am thankful for my Piano.
As long as I'm home, I have a friend I can talk to. He listens to me unconditionally, and when he responds, no matter how hurt or happy I am, the music is always great for the soul, and usually beautiful.
