"For Our Fallen" on Memorial Day

While this poem is most commonly read overseas in Europe during memorial ceremonies, it speaks to the memory of all men and women who have fallen in the midst of combat, whose valor and commitment to service should never be forgotten. For them, we are grateful.

For The Fallen
By Laurence Binyon

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children, 
England mourns for her dead across the sea. 
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit, 
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal 
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres. 
There is a music in the midst of desolation 
And a glory that shines upon our tears. 

They went with songs to the battle, they were young, 
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow. 
They were staunch to the end against odds uncountered: 
They fell with their faces to the foe. 

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn. 
At the going down of the sun and in the morning 
We will remember them. 

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again; 
They sit no more at familiar tables at home; 
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time; 
They sleep beyond England's foam. 

But where our desires are and our hopes profound, 
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight, 
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known 
As the stars are known to the Night; 

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust, 
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain; 
As the stars are starry in the time of our darkness, 
To the end, to the end they remain. 

A Universal Language

From a cultural standpoint, there are many things that are considered universally binding among people from varying backgrounds and geographic locations. Music and laughter, for instance, are two things that almost every culture experiences uniquely within their own customs and traditions, but universally as well, due to the fact that all people can appreciate the power of music and can recognize when other people are happy even if there happens to be a language barrier.

The same can be said of gratitude.

Music, joy and laughter are felt, which is why they serve to bond many people who would ordinarily be unable to relate due to their cultural differences. With being grateful, there needn't be a vocalized expression for two people to share in an exchange of gratitude. It can be felt through a hand shake, an embrace, eye contact and can even be emitted through our auras, permeating the atmosphere around us with sentiments of appreciation and thanks.

You know when someone is grateful and appreciative. There is no need for an interpreter. You just know.

An Open Home

Today, I was reminded of one of the most poignant expressions of gratitude that one can experience. Opening your home to those you appreciate or in an effort to show kindness is a huge gesture.

Our homes are our sanctuaries, our refuges, the place where privacy is expected and, in most cases, guaranteed. When we open our homes to those we appreciate we effectively give thanks and offer a warmth that is uniquely special to the home.

Gratitude is best expressed through action and when we welcome people into our homes, we are saying welcome, but we are also saying, thank you, you are safe, you are not judged, you are present and you are important.  

The home is personal space, but a lot of good can be done by opening your door.

Incredible Wisdom from Maria Shriver

Recently, Maria Shriver gave the commencement speech at the Annenberg School of Communication's graduation ceremony where her own daughter was among the graduating class. In her twenty minute speech, the graduates as well as the world were given a glimpse of this magnificent woman and what has made her who she is.

In a world where "the state of communication is out of control", she asked that in the wake of the big question, "What are you going to do?" that the graduates take time to pause.

"The pause allows you to take a break, allows you to take a beat, it allows you to be in the moment."

With those moments of pause, she encouraged that the graduates make an effort to "change from criticism and fault finding to understanding and compassion, from nay say and name calling to acceptance and appreciation, from dissembling and dishonesty to openness and explanation, from screaming to speaking."

"Today I pray that you will be able to pause and spend time and give thanks for all who made this journey possible. I hope you will express gratitude to everyone who helped get you here. I hope that you will be grateful for all the love you have in your life and all the love that you have ever had in your life."

"I stand here as a deeply grateful woman, grateful for  the life that I have lived and the life that has brought me here; grateful for all the experiences that I have had that have made me the communicator that I am today."

Give Without Remembering, Receive Without Forgetting

A life lived while minding these principles will be bountiful, for you will be living as an expression of gratitude.

Insight from Buddha

Is There Only So Much?

I had a conversation with a gentleman today about gratitude and he asked if he could shake my hand. Of course I obliged, but while shaking my hand he said, "You're a better man than me. There's only so much I can be grateful for."

An inspiring response failed to manifest itself and the gentleman walked away seemingly aware of something that he would rather not share. Well beyond his prime but nonetheless gregarious, there was a polite cynicism; a distrust in my passionate belief in the power of gratitude. He smiled at me as if I were naive. Perhaps he was kind enough to save any words of wisdom that might undermine my enthusiasm or perhaps not, instead leaving me to discover in my own time an awakening that would ultimately see me become just as cynical.

Needless to say, his response left me questioning what people are truly grateful for and how, over the course of a lifetime, does gratitude really play out. The sum of this man's reality, whatever that reality may be, has given him reason to deliberately limit that which he is grateful for. Even if his statement was made in jest, his words left a lasting impression. 

To say there is something wrong with his allocation of gratitude is asinine. To each their own. But how many people out there--all over the world--feel or believe that there is only so much to be grateful for? Does transcending the limitations of our ability to appreciate require more time, effort and energy than many or most can spare? Do less than ideal or perhaps even terrible circumstances warrant a cap being placed on what we are or should be grateful for? Is it perhaps just an aspect of the human design to enable and accept some ingratitude in response to life as we individually experience it?

Answers to these questions may elude me forever, but this I am certain of: being grateful is a personal choice of which the limitations are solely controlled by us as individuals. External influences can be used as an excuse but the measure of a persons expressed gratitude is completely hinged upon how compelled you are to give thanks for what you are, what you have, what you have experienced and the life you live.

Be as grateful as you want to be or perhaps not. You are free to believe and behave as you chose. But know that life is better when gratitude is expressed and there are no boundaries inhibiting that gratitude from permeating the world around you.

It's Friday

While we should be grateful for every day that we are granted, I must admit that I am especially grateful for Fridays. Another work week has been successfully filed away into history and the weekend awaits. So, Happy Friday, Everyone!

A Poetic Realization

Listen

with the night falling we are saying thank you 

we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings 

we are running out of the glass rooms 

with our mouths full of food to look at the sky 

and say thank you 

we are standing by the water thanking it 

smiling by the windows looking out 

in our directions  

back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging 

after funerals we are saying thank you 

after the news of the dead 

whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you 

over telephones we are saying thank you 

in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators 

remembering wars and the police at the door 

and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you 

in the banks we are saying thank you 

in the faces of the officials and the rich

and of all who will never change

we go on saying thank you thank you 

with the animals dying around us 

our lost feelings we are saying thank you 

with the forests falling faster than the minutes 

of our lives we are saying thank you 

with the words going out like cells of a brain 

with the cities growing over us 

we are saying thank you faster and faster 

with nobody listening we are saying thank you 

we are saying thank you and waving 

dark though it is

- W.S. Merwin

I love this poem because it speaks honestly to the truth of the world. That truth is that there is darkness. But in giving thanks in the midst of darkness, even when no one is listening, we effectively oppose that which would make us dark, resentful and negative. We say 'thank you' to express our gratitude if only for simply being.

At times, giving thanks may seem utterly pointless in light of circumstances, but giving thanks always makes us better people.