Monday, November 24, 2008

Gratitude and Thanksgiving

There have been a lot of souls in my life that have had more to do with sculpturing my concept of Gratitude than all the poetry and speechifying that surround Thanksgiving season.

Some, still hanging around, will read this.

One quote that hammered me into a grown-up type person was my mother, Dottee’s admonition : “Be yourself !”

Later, my bride, Betts, whom I met when she was 15 and married when she was 17, famously stated: “Wht is....IS !”

My granddaddy, Victor Allen advised: “Don’t kid yourself...especially about yourself....”

Ruth Blackmon, who dispensed sanity casually pointed out: “Humility is not bootlicking or being a doormat. It is living honestly to your best self knowledge.”

John Tucker told me: “Folks who try to make a big impression usually don’t.”

Jim Williams said: “If you think you know, then you don’t know...But if you KNOW you don’t know...why THEN, you KNOW !”

And Don Lee said: “To remain sane and calm, you almost HAVE to assume—no matter the evidence—that no one means you ill or harm.”

So, this Season, my Gratitude is boundless. By myself, I am nothing. The Master of the Universe---Ribbono Sel Oylem--- sent all these Pilgrims into my life and me into theirs.

I am thankful and grateful that I have really “Got It”.

The Message, that is.

To be Teachable is to be Spiritual. To be Spiritual is to be Teachable.