MAY EVERYDAY BE A THANKSGIVING DAY






In America, ‘Thanksgiving Day’ is a big day… What about here, in India? For Americans, it is the fourth Thursday of November… and, for us?

When we feel deeply thankful to anyone or anything in our daily life, that profound feeling is a very spiritual experience. In fact, if we pause for a moment and reflect, everything and everyone around us deserve  to be thanked by our hearts… From the smallest to the mightiest of people and events make our life what it is… an experience worth living.

I personally think, that it is in small things – in the very mundane things – that we should pause and reflect to say ‘thank-you’…

Yes, when eyes open in the morning… when we become aware that we are able to see one more day… when we see our body, feel the heartbeats… when we realize that our  eyes are able to see, the ears are able to hear… the hands and legs are able to do what they are supposed to… when we see our loved-ones around us… see their faces… feel their presence… when that first cup of tea appears on our table… when the thought makes us aware that the security men had remained awake all night to protect us… when we notice  the fan going about doing its work… when we feel for the lamps giving us light… when we feel for the water that flows through the taps… when we grasp the value of  the milkman, the newspaperman, the maidservant, the house-keeping who comes to pick the garbage bags… when we find how important and helpful have been the phone, the radio and the TV… When we realize our dependence on the autowala who ferries us to workplace… When we recognized the importance of our students who keep our kitchen-fire burning… our associate… our  parents and siblings who have given us so much… our teachers, friends and  even enemies… our neighbors, relatives and the strangers… the trains and buses, the Ola and the Uber… the Apps and the maps… the Tai Chi, Yoga and the mat and the walking shoes… the priests and the nuns in church… the choir team… our government, our banks, our credit and debit cards… that one-rupee coin and that new 2,000-rupee note… the cold winter breeze in the morning, the songs of the birds… the glorious stars, the moon and the sun… the clouds, the sky, the night… and the oceans and the mountains… the plateaus… the trees and the plants, the food I eat… the shower I take… even the tears that I shed, the fear that I feel… the envy and the hatred that keep me enchained, often… and that all-encompassing compassion, grace, love… the gift of forgiveness, the mighty hope, faith and… the open arms to embrace… LIFE…

There is so much to be thankful for, everywhere around us, and everyday…

So, why thanksgiving be confined to this one day of the year? What Turkey and wine got to do with it?  And, why only in America… why not here in our country… why not everywhere in the world?

If my life has unhappiness still, let me admit: I do not feel enough thankful in my life. For, as they say – and as we know by now – that, we cannot be thankful and unhappy at the same time!

May everyday be a ‘Thanksgiving day… What say?


GERALD D”CUNHA

Pic.: Usha Prasadh


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