Thankful Thursday: Status Quo

Aid Refugees — https://www.whitehouse.gov/campaign/aidrefugees

There’s much to be thankful for in our own little world these days. Everyone seems to be relatively happy, healthy and content. And frankly, that really is enough. But the gift of it all can be lost in our blessed experience.

We are comfortable, we are cared for, we are OK in all the basic ways we need. And that becomes commonplace for us, myself included. We lose sight of the bigger picture, we become complacent. Even when writing in my gratitude journal that I am thankful for my home and having a safe place to live I am not sure I am GRATEFUL in a way I should be, could be.

This week, I heard someone talking about how a cruise ship they were on picked up seven refugees that were “still alive” while out on the sea. I don’t know exactly where the ship was when this happened and I don’t have any details. Honestly, I couldn’t bear to ask. I couldn’t bear to hear it.

Those seven are just a few in an unimaginable mass that are so desperate they’d climb aboard what I am sure what not a very sea-worthy vessel in an effort for a better life. They risked their lives, and many lost, because it was better than the alternative.

Now in this light, our comfort, our status quo seems like epic, amazing luck. We are so rich by comparison not just monetarily but in our access, our freedoms, our abilities to make each day just about any damn thing we want.