Tag: gratitude

The one about Thanksgiving

Elizabeth Banak

I have often found that people going through the worst of times are often the most grateful. That seems counter-intuitive, but like most things, gratitude is easier to feel when you’ve overcome hardships to arrive at a place where you can be grateful, maybe not for what you endured, but for those who were with you while you had to endure it. It’s easier to be grateful when you have the perspective of what it means to lean on others even if it was hard to do, or ask for help even if you didn’t want to, because those moments humble us. They make us realize that we all need a little help to make it through, no matter how strong, rich, weak, or poor we might be. 

In a world that can really suck sometimes, the idea of an entire day devoted to being grateful is a true gift. Not just because we should stop and take time to be thankful for what we have, but because gratitude is a gateway to happiness. It is a foundation for a life less about being mired in the bad times and more about celebrating those things that lift us up, give us hope, and help make us whole. 

Gratitude isn’t always easy. Sometimes we have to look incredibly hard to find that glimmer. But it’s always there. Maybe in a kind word from a friend, or a hug from a child, or a simple text from a coworker. Maybe it’s nothing spectacular at all. Maybe it’s receiving a gift you never expected. Or mourning a loved one while remembering all the joy they brought to your life. Opportunities for gratitude are around us everyday, in ways big and small. Opening our eyes to them is sometimes the hard part. But there is nothing more rewarding than that feeling of being grateful in the face of good times and bad, not just because it’s Thanksgiving, but because when we make gratitude a way of life, we will find more moments for which to be truly grateful. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

The one about 9/11

Elizabeth Banak

The world is weird, our country is in a very precarious place, and with absolutely everything being political and divisive, reflecting on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 is almost refreshing. Despite the horror of that day, 9/11 represents the best of what it means to be an American. It was a day that we rose to meet the challenges we faced together, as one nation in shared grief and the hope of a better tomorrow. We donated blood by the pint, we held hands with strangers in church, we volunteered in clean up efforts, we donated money, we lent a shoulder to cry on, and we remembered that in spite of our differences, we were a country united. And for a while, no one cared about who you voted for in the last election, or whether or not you were vaccinated, or if you lived in a red or a blue state. I know the unity didn’t last forever because the media and politicians can hardly make money on unity, but I will always remember 9/11 and those days that followed as a time I was incredibly proud of my country. To me, it’s a stark reminder of the need for a little perspective for what we’ve been through and a little gratitude for how we came through it. It seems crazy now to believe we could ever be that united again, especially with so many out there with a vested interest in keeping us divided. The division I see now in the country, exacerbated by politicians, the media, and sadly by us on social media reflect a country divided by fear, politics, and desire to tear down rather than build up. A desire to trade freedom for a false sense of safety. A desire to cast off fellow Americans for having differing opinions. A desire to reduce those with whom we disagree to dumb, selfish, racist, socialist, or just plain evil. A desire to trash America for past faults without realizing America has been the greatest beacon of hope and freedom the world has ever known. A desire to signal virtue without actually affecting any real change. So now I look at the commemoration of 9/11 as a beacon of hope that all can be made right again if we can just remember that we are Americans first, not Republican or Democrats, not vaccinated or unvaccinated, not red or blue states. Perhaps it’s a naive hope, but the alternative is to give in and give up. We are going through many tragic things as a nation now and we are very divided. But as 9/11 showed us, wonderful things can be born out of tragedy, but only if we have the wisdom and perspective to harness what is good and the eternal gratitude that ensures we will remember it forever. If we can do that, those precious souls that died on 9/11 and our brave men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice after will not have given their lives in vain. God bless America now and always!