It’s NANO time – National Novel Writing Month. This month in Tuesday Tales I’m taking a break from romance. Since I’ll be lucky to get to the 50,000 words I need by the end of the month, I’m doubling up and using this work for my Tuesday Tales prompts also. This week we’re writing to the prompt ‘stuffed’. It’s Thanksgiving week, so you may think my ‘stuffed’ will relate to a turkey dinner. No. Read on and you’ll find it used in a different manner.
My NANO work is a nonfiction, inspirational, tentatively titled: A BETTER LIFE: A TO Z. Today I’m sharing the A excerpt – ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE. Which, relates to Thanksgiving also.
Enjoy, then head back to TUESDAY TALES here, for more story snippets from a creative group of writers.
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A: Attitude of Gratitude
Have an attitude of gratitude? As in … appreciate what you have? Ouch! Couldn’t we start with an easier lesson to learn?
This is one of the hardest lessons. This small piece of advice, three little words, is contrary to our always-striving-for-more society. It seems to go against the grain of human nature. The mantra of current day USA seems to be ‘More! More! More!’
Our houses are never quite large enough. Our vehicles are never quite new enough. Or fancy enough. Or big enough.
And technology, oh my goodness, we can’t keep up with it. Savvy smart phones have an app for almost everything imaginable. E-readers; I’ll take one of every kind, thank you very much!) We need larger, faster computers. Digital cameras with mega chips hold more photos than we used to take in a year. Or two, or three.
More clothes and shoes over here please. A person can never have enough of those. Closets are stuffed with one of every color. One of every style. One for every perceived need – whether we’ll ever wear them or not isn’t the issue. After all, they were on sale, right?
Storage unit facilities proliferate our urban landscapes now, with thousands more going up as I write this. A large portion of the population now owns more “stuff” than they can fit in their house or garage.
With this explosion of material good and our access to the latest and greatest – are we any happier than before? Are our lives any better?
I’d venture to say no.
Now, don’t think that I’m totally opposed to all the new gadgets that have invaded our lives. They do have their place and are useful, at least most of them.
One icy, frozen 19 degree morning, as some mornings tend to get here in northern Texas, I headed to work. I almost made it. Kind of. Half way. Apparently my radiator had frozen. (So what does this born and raised southern California girl know about Texas winters?)
That morning I was very, very (did I say very?) thankful and appreciative of my, at that time, less than fancy, un-smart phone that enabled me to call the tow truck from the (semi) comfort of my car. Remember the “old days” when we’d break down, or run out of gas, and sometimes have to walk 2 to 3 miles looking for a working pay phone? Been there – done that. More than a few times.
Am I dating myself here? I hear the younger generation reading this, thinking – What’s a payphone? My boys are probably in that crowd too. I doubt they have any knowledge of the dreaded several mile walk. And then – you get to the payphone and don’t have any change. Or the party you’re trying to get ahold of isn’t home.
The problem lies, not in in technology or advances and changes in our world, but in always striving for something else – be it newer, bigger, fancier, or just plain different. We fail to appreciate what we DO have. We stop living with a sense of gratitude.