Readers write: Grateful for a Thanksgiving filled with grace
Letters to the editor for the Feb. 1, 2021 weekly magazine. Readers discuss the importance of gratitude in everyday life.
Staff
Grateful for gratitude
In the Monitor’s commentary newsletter I received recently, the highlight for me was the article “A Thanksgiving like no other: Finding uplift in a dark year” by Michael S. Hopkins, from the Nov. 23, 2020, Monitor Weekly. I loved Noelle Swan’s audio recording of the story and the accompanying photos. The article was so beautifully written (I read along as I listened) and it filled me with joy and gratitude. This experiment, as it was explained by Ms. Swan at the end, was a huge success from my perspective!
Melody Horrell King
St. Louis
Daily practice
Gratitude can and should be a regular and daily occurrence. Breath itself is something to be grateful for. Gratitude steadies us in our daily routines; more importantly, when we encounter unexpected obstacles, gratitude helps us find an even keel. In gratitude we find strength, and in turn we can strengthen others. When we combine our own gratitude with compassion, then we find power and love in our community.
Thank you to the Monitor for this uplifting Thanksgiving broadcast. May there be many more. Here in Taiwan, my home away from my California home for nearly 10 years, it is especially appreciated. Be thankful for the good works the Monitor does and the joy it spreads hither and yon.
Robert V. Waring
Taipei, Taiwan
Removing fear
Thanks so much for this Thanksgiving story! It puts a better perspective on the many demands we seem to be enduring right now. And it helps to remove some of the fears that appear to be circulating.
I’m going to look for gratitude wherever and whenever I find it. It could be watching a grey heron fishing for its breakfast, the leaves falling, or when a person in the grocery store line offers to let me go first.
Robin Etter
Houston
Refreshing perspective
Regarding the Thanksgiving article: It was great – it moved me to tears. I was so inspired to return to my gratitude journal (which has been longing for my attention). Thanks to the Monitor for continuing to be a fresh drink of cold water in what appears to be a desert of isolation.
Pam Mendel
Whitefish, Montana
Sweet reminder
What a treat! Thanks to Ms. Swan and all the Monitor staff for this article – a sweet reminder of the power of gratitude. I have my own list of how it has worked in my life, but to keep it brief, let me just say I loved listening to the piece as I read along.
It felt like the wonderful storytelling I experienced as a child listening to a parent or favorite teacher – or listening to the radio when we had no TV and were living in another country. I felt embraced by the lightness of love.
Laura Lawrence
Ashland, Oregon
Meeting challenges with grace
I found this article timely and remarkably prescient; 2020 was a year of change, but change and danger can also lead to growth and ingenuity. I am grateful for so much in my life – from my sibling, who came to take care of his older sister, to my son, who is near enough to be able to help my parents.
Life is always full of challenges and difficulties. It’s how we meet them that allows us to bask in the large, interconnected network that is all of us, creating victory in small steps.
Iris L. Davis
Chapel Hill, North Carolina