Thanks for this article, Donna. I worked for three decades as a youth advocate south of you in Dartmouth, MA. I am retired now, but I still meet for coffee with several young adults, all former clients when in grade school, and we talk about how it’s going for them as young adults now out in the world on their own. Many young adults are lucky to have the guidance of family still available, if not central in their lives, but some are out there virtually on their own with little input from more seasoned adults. These are the young adults I seem to be staying connected to. Sometimes if there’s a milestone to celebrate, like a new job, a raise, or another semester checked off, we’ll make it lunch instead. The time and minimal cost of these occasional gatherings, not to mention the joy I experience, I believe, are very helpful to these young people.

Three of our grandchildren, siblings to each other, have fall birthdays. This year their parents planned a fall birthday party for all three together, with family of course, but also inviting the grandchildren’s friends and their parents as well. Some thirty children were on hand yesterday with nearly as many adults enjoying the moment and surrounds of a family cottage alongside a saltmarsh. My wife and I, the grandparents, were among the oldest there, and for me it was a joy watching all these young lives, and adults in the mutual throws of parenting, enjoying the day and each other over food and much laughter. The world and its worries, for these hours and on this day could wait. At this time, life was unfolding with joy, amidst romping-hollering kids and sea-sounds and the ever-changing quieter outgoing tide.

I think about this every day. Some days I am satisfied that I am using the blessings of my own life to help others, and some days I wish I could be doing more. Most of the time, however, when I wish I could be doing more for others it’s because my own body is saying, “not so fast, buster,” or “not today, Kevin.” Fortunately, I am finding ways to use my words and my photography as sources of comfort or joy for other people. And for that I am grateful.

Gosh…as an afterthought, it occurs to me I forgot to mention that because of my training and experience over the years, that I continue to serve on a pastoral care response team that covers a six state area within my faith community. For me, I think of this as ministry, and not specifically using my blessings, but of course it is, and sometimes the situations we are called into also helps and may improve someone’s life.

Well, if I’m writing about it I guess that means I know about it! The most obvious “contribution” I am making to the world at the moment is that I am a consumer of goods, which are made by others and helps, as a part of the whole, to provide jobs, etc. Of course, the flip side of this is that I am also contributing to the problems of the world too as a consumer in terms of pollution, my carbon footprint and so forth.

Spiritually, I would like to think that I am contributing to the world in prayerful ways and in peace-affirming ways and adding my voice to non-violent and peaceful coexistence. As a person, I prefer to live hopefully, and be a person that holds up the wonder and value of people everywhere. I may only be one person, a speck among the many, but whenever I can join arm in arm among like-minded people elsewhere, my contribution to the greater good of human kind becomes more significant.
– Kevin

Children, most especially, can learn to be a more grateful person by the examples we set visually and verbally with our actions as adults. Teaching adults to be a grateful person, especially when the concept of gratitude and being grateful have not been central to their “emotional language” and how they view the world, is a much harder lesson to teach. Frankly, I think that many adults out there probably think that the gratefulness movement in general, if they even give it a thought at all, is little more than a lot of happy talk. Professionally, I learned early on that for many, many people, life is hard and it hurts, and living a life of gratefulness is not very high on their immediate list of needs.
– Kevin

There would be a number of things that I could commit to not taking for granted from this moment forward, but without a stated or implied context as a part of the question it is difficult, if not meaningless, for me to say.

Today, I’ll take the easy road and agree with Christina, to not take the weather here in the east for granted. It has been wonderful…if not too wonderful in terms of temperature…much too warm for October! But I am in no rush either to dig out the snow shovels from the back of the shed.

Greetings, my friend, I appreciate your perspective here very much. As a family, we didn’t have much growing up, though I never felt lacking for anything either. I cannot recall the word “grateful” being used much, but my grandmother, who lived with us, who lived through the US depression back in the 1930’s said frequently, “It could be worse!” That was a rather “back-door” way of getting us to appreciate all the we had at that time. Thanks for your comment.

Thank you, Aine. I appreciate your response here. I have to say that I didn’t like very much my own reflection this morning on this question. I sat with it for a spell, then remembered my work over the years. Now and then I was able then, and still do today, to “help lift” negative and self-defeating thinking with some people who were/are ready for moving in a new direction….but far too many were just not there yet. And that’s when I let go and just submitted what I did.