500-WORD RANT #8
What the Hell is Wrong With You People? A Rant on Gratitude.
Always be grateful, even if you’re going to rant.
I’m grateful today.
It’s Sunday, a day of rest and watching men collide in a pageant of slow-motion violence, color, grace, and superhuman athletic performance.
A search on Medium yielded over 1300 articles on gratitude. I ignored articles by the shyster content marketers (SCM), many of whom decided to use the following sunflower image.
There are 12,300 photos of sunflowers on Unsplash —was the choice to use the same image based on laziness or the desire for more clicks?
Maybe one of them could have had the decency to title their article “I’m grateful that I can copy everyone else and use this free image from Unsplash instead of showing the smallest amount of originality.”
Here’s a story that was completely ignored but is more important than any of the garbage written by the SCM or me.
If you want to learn about the power of gratitude, read this.
I can’t add anything about gratitude, so I’ll list the things for which I feel gratitude today and every day:
Mom — who had the grace and courage to figure out a way not to pass on the family craziness to me.
Dad — who transformed himself as a grandfather, and showed me the damaging negative thought patterns I had held onto since I was 10 years old were just the limited perspectives of a grieving, angry dumb kid.
Wife — the one person I would want next to me when all hell breaks loose, my love, my friend, my rock.
Sons — a never-ending source of joy, surprise, and pride. And a reminder of how lucky I am to have never faced the horror of losing a child.
Health — the absence of constant pain is a blessing. You only know that after a bad injury or illness.
Senses — sight (still don’t need glasses), hearing (I like to listen); taste (never take for granted the ability to enjoy food); touch (blessed to profoundly touch a few strangers and change their lives for the better); and smell (the lack thereof, so handy when it comes to cleaning up the messes of children and dogs.)
Country — I’m not forced to listen to the bloated lies of Genghis Tang. But if I do and want to call out Cheeto Jesus for the fraud and criminal he is, I can’t be arrested for voicing those feelings.
Home —a roof over my head, a blanket when I’m cold, and a bed to wake up in, grateful for each new opportunity to rant.
You —for all the laughter, tears, and learning we share.
Perfection.
