Gratefulness

Defining the Grateful Gesture
By: Yvonne Sapia
“According to our mother,
when she was a child
what was placed before her
for dinner was not a feast,
but she would eat it
to gain back the strength
taken from her by long hot days
of working in her mother’s house
and helping her father make
candy in the family kitchen.
No idle passenger
traveling through life was she…”


When I first read “Defining the Grateful Gesture”, I thought about how ungrateful we can be. I think that we could all learn a couple of things about being grateful. The dictionary definition for gratefulness is “warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received”. I really thought about all of the small things that we take for granted every day, such as: cell phone, school, house, bed, family, television, ipod, food, teachers, computers, car, and a caring God. We are blessed with many things that we do not even think about for a second. It’s easy for us to appreciate the larger things that we are blessed with because they are more noticeable. When people do amazing things for us that are out of the ordinary, we realize it and are thankful. What about the everyday things? What about simple things that we expect but shouldn’t? If some of the simplest luxuries were removed from our lives, I imagine we would notice. The problem is that it does not go both ways. If we are upset when we lose these things, then why aren’t we equally as grateful when we have them. I know that I need to improve my gratitude in everyday life and I think this is something we all can improve on.

-Caleb