What I am Thankful for and WHY:
I have a strong awareness of having
good things in my life that I haven’t worked for… or that I have worked for,
but that are also largely the result of plain dumb luck. In fact, I’d argue
that most of the good things in my life are, at least partly, the result of
plain dumb luck. Sure, I have some good things because I’m smart — but I was
lucky enough to be born into a family that valued intelligence and made
education a priority. Sure, I have some good things because I work hard and
have a certain amount of self-discipline — but I was lucky enough to be born
into a relatively privileged race and economic class, in which I’ve had a good
number of opportunities for my hard work and self-discipline to pay off, and in
which I’ve had enough slack that I could occasionally be disorganized or lazy
or make dumb mistakes without it screwing up the rest of my life. Sure, I have
some good things because I’m a reasonably good person — but I was lucky enough
to be born into a life with a relatively low level of emotional trauma, a life
that didn’t bludgeon the kindness and empathy and generosity out of me at an
impossibly early age.
I have a strong awareness of having
good things in my life that I didn’t earn. Including, most importantly, my very
existence. And it feels wrong to not express this awareness in some way. It
feels churlish, or entitled, or self-absorbed. I don’t like treating my good
fortune as if it’s just my due. I think gratitude is a good thing. Gratitude is
intimately connected with one of our central ethical values — our sense of
fairness and justice.
