Good afternoon, Chaverim/Chaverot,
This quote really struck me as perfect for the times we are living through…
Here is today’s Gratitude Thought in the Midst of a Pandemic:
“The trick, it seems, is to be able to hold both things very close
Elizabeth Aquino
—the gratitude and the misery—
and then, with a semblance of faith, to let them fly.”
“Gratitude and misery”….so much of each to hold tight to, so much of each to set free. Everywhere you look it seems “misery” abounds…realistically, I suppose that it has always been this way and I have been blessed to have lived in a naive little bubble of love and privilege and opportunity, at the best time and place in the history of this world for a Jewish woman. That said, it does seem to me that these days everyone is very cranky…(aka scared, angry, disconnected, insecure, lonely)…and going out of his/her/their way to spread misery, to make damn sure that others feel as bad as they feel.
As our writer observes, the “trick” (that feels as if quite a lot of mental gymnastics will be needed to pull off!) is to practice and “hold close” our gratitude even as we must acknowledge and live with and in the midst of the spreading misery…this deep gratitude (that we can access with some effort) for our blessings…for the wonders and gifts that we have right here, right now, on this day, in this precious moment in time. [They are still here….though they may not be what they were yesterday…]
And, “faith”…now, THAT feels like an impossibly tall order in these times….hope, optimism, faith that things will get better even as they seem to be getting worse every day, that “good” will triumph over evil, that the “moral arch of the universe” is still bending “toward justice”.
So, let us make the effort to access that gratitude and faith and “let them fly”, to put them out into the world and live and act from them, today and every day…it’s something we can each do help reduce the “misery” and it matters!!!
Love and Shabbat Shalom to all,
Marci
