There’s lots to be thankful for in this life: there’s the big things (like family, friends, a home, a job) and there’s the little things (like the weather being co-operative, a flower blooming or a much wanted item going on sale just when you were about to give up on getting it). What I want to do is take a look at some of the things I am thankful for and why I am thankful for them.
1. I am thankful to be alive.
So many times, especially when I was younger, I thought about
not being alive and how I would go about making that happen. I am thankful I
never went through with it. I am thankful that I saw the worth in myself that
others didn’t see. I am thankful that I survived.
Infuriating though he can sometimes be I am forever thankful
that I have him, that he is happy and healthy, and that he is so full of life.
I am thankful that I decided to keep him when I could have either terminated or
given him up for adoption. I am thankful that, no matter what, I will always be
his mother and he will always be my baby, no matter how old he gets,
3. I am
thankful for my job.
I may complain bitterly about it at times, may rage at the
unfathomable decisions made by the higher ups, may get in trouble for expressing
that rage, but, in the end, I do love my job. I am thankful for the people it
allows me to meet. I am thankful for the opportunities it presents to me. I am
thankful for the colleagues I have. I am thankful for the understanding it
provides me when I call in sick or have to take time off to be a mum. I am also
thankful for the pay it gives me, that buys my food and lets me take holidays.
4. I am
thankful for my friends.
They may live far and wide and get consumed by their own
lives at times but they are always a call, a text, an email or a FB message
away when I need them. I am thankful that they tell me when I’m being an idiot
(even if I don’t always listen) and I am thankful for their support. I am
thankful for the diversity they exhibit in their humour, their jobs, their
lifestyles, their sexuality and their beliefs.
5. I am
thankful for my mother.
Not just because she’s my mother. She’s also my financial
planner, my babysitter and my housekeeper. I’m not sure what I will do without
her when she eventual steps off this mortal coil, but in the meantime I’m
thankful everything she does.
6. I am
thankful for the Australian education system.
It may not be the best in the world but I think it’s pretty
good. It doesn’t matter how old you are or what your background is, if you want
an education you can get one. It has provided me with not only 13 years of
extremely inexpensive public education; it has provided me with 6 years of
higher education, which I only pay back once my earnings reach a certain level.
From these years of education, I have learned not only specific information,
such as the equation for the circumference, but general knowledge, such a
critical thinking. Without my education I would not be able to write this blog
(I’ll leave it to you to decide whether that’s a good thing or not).
7. I am
thankful for the freedoms I enjoy.
I live in a society that is relatively free from
persecution. There will be closed-minded people, religious zealots, ignorant
fools and all manner of other types of people who try to force others into
their way of thinking. I am thankful that the State does not, on a whole,
sanction their idiocy. I am free to think what I want, to believe what I want,
to love who I want, to travel where I want. I am also thankful that those freedoms
are being afforded to more and more of my fellow citizens as we move toward a
truly equal society based on merit not on misconceptions.
8. I am
thankful for today’s technology,
Without having to miss a beat, I can search for anything and
everything online, from the mass-produced to the obscure and rare. I can
connect with friends and family on the other side of the world instantly. I can
store food for days, weeks, months without it going off. I can cook a meal
(well, not me personally, other people can) without slaving over the stove all
day, unless you really want to.
9. I am
thankful for nature.
I am thankful for the birds that sing, the fish that swim,
the clouds that float by, the waves that crash, the flowers that bloom, the
wind that sighs, the cats that purr, the children that laugh, the rain that
falls and the sun that shines. I am thankful for life on earth and my ability
to experience it in all its wonders. That life gives me life. Its existence
allows for my existence. I am thankful for nature in all its majesty.
10. I am thankful for my readers.
Few though you may be, without you I’d be talking to myself.
I have always said I don’t write for anyone for myself and that is true, but it
is always nice to know someone is casting a discerning eye over these random
meanderings of mine and perhaps taking something from them that is more than a
simple understanding of what has been written.
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