Gratitude Journal
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Wolran Kim
June 2011



#1

I am living with forgetting to thank. Maybe, because there are too many things to appreciate. I have seen the commercial broadcast of "ancestor.com." One lady from this advertisement said that she just started to look without any purpose. And she found out how lucky her life is because her great-great-grandmother had four children, and only one of them survived. So this fact surprised her and made her feel anew thankfulness for her life. Every time I see the tiny little papers of fortune cookies from a Chinese restaurant, I see the messages such as "You will soon have a nice trip." "You will soon have a great party or gathering." "You will have a good result from what you are trying now." I thought these words were just foolish stuffs. But, how wonderful a small trip for the weekend? Many people even work every weekend. How nice even a small family gathering? Many people don't have families. How cool my poetry and school works? Many people never find their enjoyments. I realize again that my entire life is a good chunk of luck from little fortune cookies.


#2

If I look at this way, it is easy to be grateful: keep healthy; have food, clothing and shelter; time for seek fun; passion for learning. Everything, every moment can be appreciated. The most important thing is a healthy body and mind. How many people spend half their lives in hospitals because of viviparous or chronic diseases? My friend's daughter is a really clever girl, but she spent a lifetime in a wheelchair. She cannot stand by herself and has to crawl on her belly to move. I am ashamed of myself that I forgot about my healthy family whenever I see her and her mother.


#3

Thanks give birth to thanks and thanks are delivered of miracles. Complaints bear complaints and complaints bear the seeds of misery. Negative thinking connects to negative behavior and results. A positive mind with dreams and visions leads to a positive life. I used to be living as a thanks deficiency patient. United States must be a number one country because they are used to saying "Thank You." Thanks are the vaccinations of unhappiness. Thankful happening take place more often to person who thanks because a thankful mind has a plus factor. Thanks have energy and are good for health. Happiness is hiding in gratitude, not in riches and honors.


#4

I have no longer thought to be grateful today. There was nothing happening to be thankful but I forgot that any bad things did not happen either. How wonderful that nothing was wrong besides thank for only luck. There are only sick people in the hospital and only various injured people in accident news. There are only homeless people in homeless shelter and only dead people in the cemetery. There are locked up criminals in prison and only plagued people with the unfair things in the court. How can I appreciate the fact that nothing happened to me?


#5

In the meantime, I saw three videos during anthropology class time; Kayapo Indian, Australian Aboriginal, and Hopi Indian. These opportunities made me realize once again how many races there are and how different cultures coexist over this planet. The song which a Hopi Indian woman crooned still stayed in my head. The song sounded sad, fearful, or even bizarre to me. It was singing about all different lives, birth, and sorrows vaguely. People say it was sure to rain whenever the Hopi Indian prays for rain. The secret is that they pray until rain. Waiting and patience is the wisdom of life to anybody, in any society, and any nation. Hopi tribe is the oldest Indian culture in America, and they have prophesied about the atomic bombing of Japan even 1000 years ago.
I could see human's wisdom and honor even though they are still living distant from modern civilization. I wonder how mysterious this world is and how wide. The movies about Aboriginal lives widened my mental horizon and made my life more valuable. The dance of life which is living in a thousand different ways is beautiful in any gesture.


# 6

Happiness depends on the depth of gratitude. Somebody said that the reason there is no punishment for the people who never thanks, is because people who never thanks invite pain themselves. I was far from the appreciation since I wrote poetry because I can write the great poems when I am lonely, sad, and have difficult times. So poetry is my method of enjoying sorrow and pain. A thankful mind can often be an obstacle for writing poetry because I think that the origin of humans is death and sorrow. But for real, I better not forget to thank and not neglect trivial affairs.