On Thankfulness
By Leo Buscaglia....Felice Leonardo Buscaglia
Excerpt from Bus 9 to Paradise
I'd like to present a partial list of what I'm thankful for:
The miracle of life. The privilege of being alive, of waking up in the morning ready for a new day to be experienced with enthusiasm and vitality, the challenge that is mine to make the world a better place, both for me and for everyone else.
For people -- each one unique, no two alike. Each with something special to contribute -- those who agree with us and help us to grow, as well as those who disagree with us, challenge us and help us to see new possibilities.
For food -- wonderful food, each morsel differing from any other. The odors of chicken soup simmering on the stove, or a roast cooking in the oven. The taste and smell of basil, rosemary, crisp apples, ripe peaches, freshly gathered tomatoes and green peppers, onions and garlic.
For gardens -- grass, vegetables or flowers. Roses, orchids, daisies and forget-me-nots. Carrots, potatoes, radishes and corn.
For optimists, for they make all things a possibility.
For pragmatists, for they keep us in balance.
For romanticists, for they keep our dreams alive.
For a future, and what is called progress, in the hope that it might lead us to solving the world's problems: hunger, war, fear, suspicion, loneliness.
For the past -- the fond memories of how things were. Pre-television days when we took time to talk to each other. When things were made to last. When there were real butchers, bakers and candlestick makers in place of people who appear only when we "ring the bell for service."
For our country, for the United States of America, imperfections and all, which is still the freest land in the world. Where we can worship freely, choose our own leaders and live an existence mainly of our own choice.
For good health: the superb feeling of having full power to use our mental and physical resources to the maximum. And if we aren't as well as we might be, to use what we have and make it do.
For family and friends, for they offer us the needed consistency and loving support that makes it possible for us to continue to risk, and fail, and keep trying. It's good to know that there is someone close by who cares, forgives and accepts.