I have so many plushie sharks, I have honestly lost count of them.
There really isn't any.
PAIN seems like a pretty fucked up thing to be grateful for, doesn't it?
I'll explain. But let me tell you a story first.
Years ago, a boss of mine who was very thrifty, had cracked the handle on a shovel. Rather than throw away the whole tool and spend money on a new one, he bought a wood pole. His plan was to cut it down with a table saw and use it as a new handle, with the old shovel head.
But it didn't go so well. He wound up cutting off his pinky finger!
He rushed to the hospital where they were able to reattach his finger. It was a very costly surgery.
After his surgery, he had the finger but he lost all sensation in it. He would routinely bang his hand and especially that finger on all sorts of things at the office. His hand looked just terrible.
But often he would never know that he injured himself, because he couldn't feel it.
This story, besides being horrible, is filled with wisdom. The chief thing I learned from it is this: pain is a teacher.
Think about my boss. What did he learn:
- Doing thrifty things can have hidden costs
- To be more careful with his tools
But that's not all. After the whole terrible experience, he was deprived of pain, because of the severed nerves in his hand. Without meaning to, he took worse care of his hand and his finger because he couldn't feel when he was hurting them.
This is exactly why I'm grateful for pain, of all kinds. Pain can be a signal to me that I'm doing something harmful to my body, my life, or even to others.
I'm grateful for the help to reorient myself, to make new decisions, better choices. Suffering is a vital part of living.
I have this chat friend, Fiona. She sometimes texts me funny pictures, and then I will amp them up by adding to them.
Like this...
I love good manners, both in myself and others. I have since I was a kid.
My parents, grandparents, and whole family had a thing about manners. We were taught to say please and thank you, to have good table manners, hold doors, pull out chairs, to be gracious.
I never found this onerous. Just the opposite, in fact. I like calling people sir, or ma'am. I go out of my way to treat service people like waiters, bar tenders, barbers, and service technicians with courtesy and respect.
I think I understand why this is so gratifying for me.
This morning at the train station I parked in a far lot, and had to cross the main thoroughfare of the near lot to get to the station.
Several cars came rushing through, and I waited for them to pass. As I crossed another car came driving down the lane, but stopped to let me cross.
I waved and nodded thankfully, and the driver, smiling, did the same in return.
Even though we don't know one another, for just that moment, we could acknowledge one another. It was like we said to each other, "Even though I barely know you, you matter enough to be worth my polite respect."
I'm grateful I can connect with a complete stranger like this. Things like this are why I kind of love everyone.