Give thanks, be kind and look at the positive things in life
Photo by Lynne Deliman
'Welcome to the Table' turkey dinner at the McKees Rocks VFW on Nov.
By David Ficarri
-Diversions with Dave-
For many of us, this has been the most trying year of our lives. All the ties that bind us together as a community have been either frayed or damaged completely.
When you’re feeling beaten down or overwhelmed, the best thing to do is seek out those things that give meaning to our lives and nourish our souls.
In a past life, I managed a gym and every day I would write a quote on the whiteboard to greet our members.
A little to my surprise, it became wildly popular and I got a lot of great responses in return.
It taught me a lot about how we as humans desire to nourish our bodies, minds and souls and whatever vehicle we choose to reach that destination, sometimes the tiniest of gestures carry the most meaning.
As we all sit down for the most unusual Thanksgiving, I can’t promise these words will erase all of your problems, but maybe in their own small way, they bring you some comfort and hopefully nourish your mind and soul as you nourish your body.
LOVE. There are millions of quotes about love, but in all reality, true love can never be fully explained.
For today, I think I’ll choose Mother Theresa’s advice, “Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.”
PEACE. There are plenty of ways to define peace but you’ll never bring peace to your external world until you have internal peace.
If this year taught you anything, I hope you learned to embrace things that give you peace and dismiss those that don’t. I’m not sure of the origin, but “anything that costs you your peace is too expensive.”
LAUGHTER. I know it’s been tough to find joy and humor in many things this year, but one thing I found on social media was that if you make others laugh, you’ll feel better too.
Laughter is truly the best medicine. As Lord Byron said, “Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine”.
HOPE. Ahhh, the double-edged sword of hope. I’ll choose the positive view of it for today. From Shawshank Redemption, one of my favorite quotes, “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
GRATITUDE. On this day of thanks, it’s always good to appreciate the blessings of life. Again, I could choose from a variety of people to express this sentiment, I like William Faulkner’s choice of words, “Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: It must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all.”
Hopefully, as these words pile on your plate, you take a minute to enjoy the beauty that is this life and hopefully you spread your feelings to those around you. Of course, who better to sum up these sentiments than Mr. Rogers.
He said, “There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.”