As the week of Thanksgiving begins, we reflect on this year.
The unprecedented challenges that COVID-19 brought will be long felt and
remembered even as the vaccine promises a better tomorrow.
The day-to-day practices of our lives always came with a
sense of entitlement - we had access to everything in surplus and
supersized too! Almost everything was just a click of a button away.
Then the invisible, seemingly invincible virus instantaneously showed that nothing is permanent - never take anything for granted.
I could never have imagined a dwindling supply chain or being unable to ride the yellow school bus each morning, walk down crowded hallways with friends, go to movie theaters, or attend my sister’s college graduation. We can't even experience one of life's most basic joys unencumbered: breathing the waft of the crisp morning air!
And yet, the “cornucopia” this year is overflowing with gratitude. Gratitude for the
sacrifices and selflessness of many: hospital workers - clinical and non-clinical, public transportation operators, grocery store staff, freight drivers, sanitation staff, neighbors who checked in on others, teachers who took on to the Herculean task of online teaching, the support staff that made remote learning possible, and countless others.
There is always something to be thankful for. The “bounty” of strength and
compassion that the world sees through a single lens, the lessons in resilience in
the face of this adversity, the courage to stand strong when things seem to fall
apart, the grit to plough through challenging times, to be able to make small
sacrifices and not view them as a compromise, face hardships with grace and not
quibble. The idea that a little can mean a lot drives how I am “carving” my list of gratitude this November!