The Importance of Being Thankful
I suppose when one considers being thankful one might have to confront the problem of not being able to control things. For some this is resolved by a faith in something greater than yourself, a benevolent deity or some kind of transcendent belief that all is as it should be. Still for those more spiritually ambivalent or downright apathetic individuals the act of being thankful seems like a plea into the ether for the random fortune of those events that haven’t as of yet resulted in demise. I wonder why one would be thankful? What it does for us aside from allowing us to stop breath and take a moment to relish the occasionally stable elements that make up our inevitably tumultuous existence. To me being thankful is like a rebooting of our perception.
Should I be thankful for a full belly, A bed, and shelter? Yes. Should I be indignant that I can’t see without glasses? No.
Now the question is one of accountability and personal responsibility. I should be thankful for that which has inexplicably become part of my life and contributes to it in a good way. To say that I create my own good fortune is to disregard the meaning of the word. I can get glasses or hack off part of my cornea with a laser if I want to see better. But I cannot choose my parents and I cannot make someone love me.
Problems have solutions and to find those solutions and to solve those problems seems to be the primary way of passing time in this life. Complaint about that which we cannot control, as temporarily therapeutic as it may be, is pointless since it cannot be controlled. This truth of victimization by fate can be quite depressing if one does not also realize that as fate might "screw you" it also favors you. So though we might take a moment to curse our existence we should also take a moment, or two, to appreciate our existence.
In this way being thankful serves a psychological need and prevents us from becoming so intertwined by the negative that we lose our damn mind. It keeps us sane to stop and be happy about the good things; be it thanking a God or just recognizing whatever volume of fluid is currently in the glass. Then we can go about our day searching for solutions to that dimension of our existence that we have some influence over.
Should I be thankful for a full belly, A bed, and shelter? Yes. Should I be indignant that I can’t see without glasses? No.
Now the question is one of accountability and personal responsibility. I should be thankful for that which has inexplicably become part of my life and contributes to it in a good way. To say that I create my own good fortune is to disregard the meaning of the word. I can get glasses or hack off part of my cornea with a laser if I want to see better. But I cannot choose my parents and I cannot make someone love me.
Problems have solutions and to find those solutions and to solve those problems seems to be the primary way of passing time in this life. Complaint about that which we cannot control, as temporarily therapeutic as it may be, is pointless since it cannot be controlled. This truth of victimization by fate can be quite depressing if one does not also realize that as fate might "screw you" it also favors you. So though we might take a moment to curse our existence we should also take a moment, or two, to appreciate our existence.
In this way being thankful serves a psychological need and prevents us from becoming so intertwined by the negative that we lose our damn mind. It keeps us sane to stop and be happy about the good things; be it thanking a God or just recognizing whatever volume of fluid is currently in the glass. Then we can go about our day searching for solutions to that dimension of our existence that we have some influence over.
posted by Ian at 6:47 PM
2 Comments:
I was not aware that being 'thankful' included waxing existential.
I think I need a cigarette.
You dick.
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