FOR GRATITUDE SAKE

World Gratitude Day is Here

By Jacqueline Grimes

     By anyone's guess, one might have not guessed this was "World Gratitude Day". Set aside to show earnest gratefulness (as the chorus of a popular gospel tune suggests) for what has happened--even not happened--in the days of our lives, we can give pause. And it gave me a perfect opportunity to re-blog. Just as sometimes a computer needs to "re-boot" its settings, I've needed to do the same. Life in 2013 didn't just throw me a curve it threw me into a curve when my precious,elderly mother was hospitalized twice. As primary caregiver, this meant another awakening to increased scrutiny and intense care.

     Life coach Ramon Williamson of www.ramonwilliamson.com sent a message to me that had a post script about this day. He nudged that it's "a great time and topic to blog about!" So here I am: Scouting for readers and professing myself as a writer. And allow me to speak in first person at this time of my re-introduction of my blog, aptly titled "The Sociowl Journal" (love for awareness and owls). I hope you don't mind. I'll be working on this in a manner close to magazine style...work in progress.

     After an invite and acceptance to be included in a major publication that actually bears the title of today's piece, Williamson's prompting gave way to me gathering additional thoughts about this lost expression.  Many people today are hurting and pass their hurt to others, whereby being grateful for everything good seems to be a foreign notion. A work called The Gratitude Book Project 2013 Edition  by Donna Kozik, founder of Kozik Rocha, Inc. and creator of "Write a Book in a Weekend", features my first penning about the topic. Its Amazon debut was December 17, 2012. But I'll only add something new here, just to express my continuous gratitude for life. Reading, writing, and sharing poetry is a favorite pastime, so I offer a poem in closing. Thank you for visiting. Please come again, with friends, and often.

 

An Attitude of Gratitude

 

There's an attitude of gratitude

In everything I do,

For all that God has given me

And dreams that have come true.

I'm thankful for the gifts He gives,

Each blessing I have known,

For friends I've met along the way

And strength to carry on.

here's and attitude of gratitude

With every prayer I say,

For something good has come my way

Each and every day.

Through trials and tribulations,

I've felt His presence there,

And I have often found relief

Beneath the wings of prayer.

However bad my circumstance,

 I know things could be worse,

And Christ has been my anchor

When things have been adverse.

I know how truly blessed I am,

And God will bless you, too!

There's an attitude of gratitude

In everything I do!

 

Clay Harrison



 

 

"Blessed be the Lord, who has heard

the sound of my pleading."

Psalm 28:6

 

What Is My Surname?

     During the month of June fatherhood is celebrated everywhere.  But perhaps it is never celebrated by everyone.  True enough, the Holy Bible tells its believers, in one Exodus scripture, to honor thy mother and thy father, that thy days be long upon the earth.  So in today's society, some folks are finding it a difficult thing to do.  They do not know who to call dad nor what their real surname is --or was-- at the time of birth.

     While listening to this poignant subject on June 21, 2011 courtesy of Keepin' It Real radio broadcast by WCHB-AM 1200  (Rev. Dr. Al Sharpton, NY host), a gentleman caller came on the line around 3:25p.m., to keep it real in his answer for the question of  What Does A Father Mean to You?  based on his circumstances.  It was enlightening to hear his story in brief: As a father of four, he indicated how ALIENATION is a form of abuse to a child not cared for or thought of by his/her father.  He referenced his ability to overcame anger and confusion in order to be the kind of father his was not to be.  This father and a gentleman concluded that when women separate men from their children, it's the same as DECAPITATION!  In effect, she decapitates the family, thus taking the head (man of the household) out of it.  In doing so, the structure (family/body of the man) is forever altered.   Their identity becomes compromised.  It was powerful to hear, interpret, and understand that with a woman's heart, mind, and soul.  I wish all people, particularly women who've harmed men this way, could've  heard him.  My relationship with my dad was in tact until his passing in 1970.  But so many fatherless children and adults are in pain because of rifts between the parents.

     Incidentally, June 20, 2011 heralded a similar topic courtesy of The F-Club radio broadcast by WCHB-AM 1200 (Ramona Prater, MI host).  She posed the question What Makes A Man?  The majority of the callers concurred that great men are developed into providers/protectors/parents over time. 

     More compassion and consideration is needed.  Use those traits as a start to show unconditional love, so that your offspring from your once-upon-a-time romance doesn't suffer the consequences.

D is for DUMBING DOWN

     Sometime in October 2010,  I came across an interesting article about the importance of educating our nation's youth.  This subject carried the title "The dumbing down of America's youth" by Michael G. Williams, written for The Erickson Tribune (http://www.ericksontribune.com/ ).

     Williams was quoting Emory University's English professor Mark Bauerlein (author of The Dumbest Generation How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future, [Tarcher/Penguin, 2008]), getting his take on those we may now refer to as "Generation.Net".  Basically, he claims that it's the digital climate of our society that is aiding in the "dumbing down" of young people under the age of 30.  Access to the Internet, cellular services, and cable networks --especially an overkill of reality shows-- has promoted abandonment of the classroom, thus higher level think spots, and forged a spike in what I'll exclaim is textology!  (No it's not a word.  I checked.)  If you're not texting, you're not communicating.  Follow me?

     All of this information overload has finally reached a fever pitch in the ways this group creates meaningful dialogue without facial and verbal interaction.  Well, perhaps FACEBOOK has solved the former one.  And TWITTER, without audio, covers the verbal.  Hence,  it's an all out in-your-face, birds-of-a-feather" tweet together approach to socializing.  (Right about now you can play Michael Jackson's "Rockin' Robin".  That's the first time I ever heard the expression "Tweet, tweet.")  Says Bauerlein, according to Williams, " 'The digital world,...is an irresistible temptation to teenagers not yet comfortable with their place in life, and who want everything quick and easy'."  (Now play Lionel Richie's "Easy - Like Sunday Morning", and you'll get some of my meaning.

     Overall, we adults need to take another look at the failings of our social system and its temptations on our youth.  Learning is going on, but true academic progress is going down and further down as I write.  I believe that reading, comprehension, and composition are areas that might need reviewing for helping our youth strengthen themselves inside all halls of education.  Efficacy, I once learned, is the key to making a start, including a start-over.