by Mervyn Wool fka Pure Dragon
It is Black Friday and most people are out shopping to take advantage of the sales. I personally do not find Black Friday nowadays to be what it used to be. In the past, Black Friday was a thing, a day where people would stay up, go out at midnight to get in line to wait for the stores to open to shop. There will be large crowds of people in the parking lot of malls, parking spaces will be mostly taken, and long lines with everyone standing around chatting with excitement, waiting for the doors to open so they can rush in and fight other shoppers on whatever it is they want. Black Friday used to be what it is: Black Friday. Now, it is more like Black Friday Week, where it starts on Thanksgiving week, rather than on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving…what does that mean to you? Is it a time to be thankful or give back? Or both? For me, it is a time where we think about what we are thankful for but why does these thoughts have to only happen on Thanksgiving? Should we not be reminding ourselves daily of what we are thankful for? Thanksgiving should be just an additional reminder, a time where we express our gratefulness to those that we love and cherish more. But this does not have to happen only during Thanksgiving holiday…
When you ask someone, “What are you thankful for?” A very common answer you will get is “I am thankful to be alive”, “I am thankful to have a job”, or “I am thankful to have a roof over my head”. There is nothing wrong with these answers. These are some of the things that I would also say, but lately, I view these type of things that we are thankful for to be at the top tip of a pyramid. What about all the other things that are on the pyramid but on the bottom? I am talking about the simple things we do not typically think about, things that we take for granted and not necessary think are things we should be thankful for. Those simple things in our life that we take for granted can mean the world to someone if giving.
For example, I am thankful to have this laptop I can type this piece on. I am thankful I have a smart phone to use, rather than a regular flip phone. I am thankful that I have snacks that I can munch on when I want. Looking to my right on our dining table right now is a bag of gummies. I am thankful for that. I am thankful for this drink that I just brought to drink, that I can actually afford it. I am thankful for this dining table I have, that my wife and I picked out. These are the simple things in life that I am thankful for. I understand that some of you that is reading this right now are in different situations than I, thus some of the things I mention you would be very thankful for, depending on where you are sitting right now.
No matter where you are at, what your situation is, I am sure you have something you are thankful for and I am not referring to life, family, friends, etc. It can be the pencil you have in your room/cell, the piece of paper that you write on, and/or the current issue of The Beat Within you are reading. These are simple things that I feel we tend to not think about that could mean the world to someone else. A simple gummy bear may make a little kids day. A pencil and paper may be what another family cannot provide for their child to go to school with. A drink (whatever it may be) may be a once a year treat for someone. Having the opportunity to grace the pages of the current issue of The Beat Within is an honor I am thankful for…..
Look around and think about what are some of the simple things in life that you can be thankful for…