Thanksgiving, a time to reflect on what we are thankful for...but not today, I would to take a different perspective so let’s all take a look at the things we are not thankful for. The things that we wish were not a part of our lives. I took a mini poll and came up with several things that people aren’t happy to have as a part of their lives:
Greed , people who are negative, world hunger, irresponsible people, poverty, homelessness, drama queens, lack of understanding, people who don’t think before acting, not enough compassion, narcissistic people, bad customer service, etc.
We really can't do anything about the some of the above- drama queens,people who act without thinking, rude people, etc.....or can we. We have all heard 'it takes a village' or, my personal favorite by Maya Angelou 'if you know better you can do better'. Well it does take a village and I would like to believe that people who treat others rudely, or seem to act in a manner that they are not thinking of others, or who seem to always take up all the space in a room are just individuals who don't know any better. There are nice ways to educate people. Like I hopefully am doing now. If you are cut off in the line at the gas station - or anywhere else- do you let others know in a positive manner. 'Excuse me, were you aware that you just cut me off?' If someone treats someone rudely do you stand up for the other person 'oh, my goodness, I am sure you didn't mean that how it sounded'. Now I know that some of you are saying 'are you kidding me, that is just an opportunity for them to scream at me/flip me off/ shoot me'. Yes, that could be true...... but maybe, it is possible that they just aren't aware of what they did. My sons' at 6, or 8 or 10 years of age said some unacceptable things at times, acted in an unacceptable manner at times, and treated each other rudely at times. They were awesome little boys, just not knowledgeable in some areas and when I politely pointed out what they had done -and in the case of my own children only - explained to them how it was unacceptable and how it had made someone else feel they rarely did it again. They wanted to know better so that they could be better. Who doesn't? Maybe some folks out there didn't have the parent who helped them out with those things and given the opportunity would see the errors in their ways and adjust. Who doesn't want to get along in this world? I do believe that what you put out there is returned - Karma, if you will- so why would someone want to keep putting the negative out there? Now, this piece is not a license for correcting others in public or becoming rude yourself in doing so so don't go all willy nilly but this is just food for thought. By giving of our good example to others aren't we putting a bit more good out into the world as well as maybe opening someone's eyes a bit to other possible ways of doing things?
Now, the great part about the above complaints is that there are a few on the list that we can do something about. Hunger - we can donate to a food bank or local soup kitchen. Homelessness - we can volunteer at our local shelter or donate supplies or money. Poverty- all the above plus looking for ways to be proactive in our community by voting and participating on the boards of organizations, and providing incentives to employees for helping out. Now that is something to be thankful for. Those that help are proactive about the changes we would like to see in the world and are part of the active solution to make positive changes. Isn’t that the meaning of Thanksgiving! To give thanks for what we have but to recognize AND have the action behind the desire to change the parts of our society that we don’t like.
