Quoting a poem

Almost ten years, the writer at "The Concrete Tomb of Hradzka" did an "a poem a day" project...

I liked this one very much, and I am going to quote it here:

Give thanks not for the things you have,
but for the things you were denied:
The huddling naked in the cold,
a short life of fear before you died.
Meat eaten raw, and thought a feast,
those meager scraps that came to hand,
a world, mysterious and cruel
you couldn't hope to understand:
no escape from those you knew --
no hope for solitude or change,
no chance at healing for the sick,
no hope of refuge for the strange.
This age men curse and spit upon,
as worse than all that came before,
is paradise to those long gone --
give thanks before you ask for more.

- David Hines.

(And apparently he has a book of his poems available.)

And yes. It's good to stop sometimes and instead of seeing the ways the world is deeply imperfect (because it is), to reflect on how it is also better than it could be. I was thinking recently of recent (as in: the last 200 years) medical advances: water hygiene, hand-washing, vaccines, pasteurization, antibiotics, the understanding of vitamins and why you need to eat some citrus or cabbage or at least potatoes once in a while so any wounds you get will heal and your teeth won't fall out, modern analgesics, advances in dentistry....things used to be much worse than they are now.

And as I've occasionally noted: I, an ordinary woman without an extremely high income (by US standards), have electricity and heat and running water and even HOT running water when I want it, something that would have been prohibitively expensive or simply unavailable in many parts of the US 100 years ago.

Happy Thanksgiving to my US cohort...I know in some circles the holiday has become controversial because Colonialism but I do think, whatever we might call it, we do need to put aside a day where we stop and think about the good stuff we have, and be thankful, and maybe also get together with loved ones and have a big meal.