"Gratitude"...To Death!

"We have thousands of opportunities every day to be grateful: for having good weather, to have slept well last night, to be able to get up, to be healthy, to have enough to eat. ...

There's opportunity upon opportunity to be grateful; that's what life is."

Brother David Steindl-Rast

Those were the words on Thursday, January 21, from Gratefulness.org.




First, I salute the tremendous efforts of the entertainment community, especially George Clooney and Wyclef Jean, for bringing together so many entertainers from around the globe. "Hope for Haiti: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief," was held on Friday, January 22, in Los Angeles and London. It reportedly raised more than $60 million.











Star after star, singer after singer, appeared on the "world" stage. Those who couldn't sing, took calls. I salute you ALL and thank you for your willingness to show UP and do whatever you could. I love YOU, Hollywood! Yes, I'll be at Opening Day for ALL of your movies! I know you by name! I also know your songs, singers!







The day I read the above message from Gratefulness.org was the same day I'd read that there were tens of thousands of Haitians being buried in a mass grave.

I wondered: Are we EVER grateful enough?

We take for granted every aspect of our lives...from being able to get up and go about our business in the morning to having a "civil" burial when we die.

We often don't think of these things as privileges and not granted to everyone.


Often people with so much to celebrate still find reasons to complain.

We've had lots of rain in the San Francisco Bay Area, something that doesn't often happen here. People have been complaining about that. Indeed, one person gave me pause to think of how "unbalanced" some of us truly are when one day she was celebrating events with many "happy" photos on Facebook, yet the next got fully "down in the dumps," because of the falling rain.

I wanted to point out that in Chicago, where I have family and friends, people were navigating through icy roads and bitter cold. I simply settled for a comment:"Into each life, a little rain must fall."


This complaining, too, made me reassess the true value of Facebook to me at this time, and I ultimately decided to deactivate my account. [I'd only begun actively participating during the holidays to catch up with family photos and other "happenings." I saw where the forum becomes a showcase for some to keep "posing" on a daily basis, a happy, yet unappreciated lifestyle. Facebook truly is not for everyone! It and all the other social networking vehicles are GREAT as strategic tools for specific and intended purposes...only...]

As the world becomes more global, we're having many, many opportunities to celebrate the relatively easygoing lifestyle here in these United States.


We're now exposed to many images of people living in conditions and situations that would try our very last ounce of strength, were we to be similarly exposed.


Growing up in a Third World country, I was not at all ignorant of the "less than optimal" conditions a large portion of the world is living under. Yet, we tend to forget, given enough time and enough exposure to life in these United States.


With the Haitian earthquake shaking us all up, we are being reminded on a daily basis of just how fortunate we are to have relatively efficient forms of government in place at all levels. Local governments would be CRUCIFIED, should they not operate efficiently when people encounter icy roads or flood waters rain down on apartment complexes, as they have been in the city by the Bay.




At the national level, we've seen what happens when a new president takes a new job and yet in a YEAR does NOT deliver on the "JOBS." The anger and complaints that began about three months into his new role boiled over in full-fledged HOSTILITY when a state that had voted Democratic for more than a half a century TURNED ITS tale and voted Republican.

Are we ANGRY enough when we don't get WHAT WE WANT...AS SOON AS WE WANT IT?


This is life in these United States, take it or leave it.

That brings me back to the main topic of this blog post.

With death, too, are we, as American citizens, going to demonstrate our anger or our gratitude?


Most of us can be reasonably sure that we'll have a "singular" death* and a "singular" funeral* or memorial with all the normal "trimmings," unless we're hit by a massive form of devastation that comes TOTALLY out of any context.


Indeed, with the aging Baby Boom population getting "close," I see so many commercials popping up now to make sure we have our final burial costs, averaging near $8,000, so we can be laid to rest in style.




Most of us can be assured that we'll be buried with the dignity and right pomp and circumstance our lives and our lifestyles dictate. Contemplating my inevitable end, I know that depending on when it occurs, "the right pomp and circumstance" would include wailing relatives, too, at my memorial, whether I want it or not.

So...how about the Haitians MASS burial?

Do you think that at least, and in some small way, we can begin to be GRATEFUL that we can be assured of a normal death and burial...and begin to start giving THANKS from today?

Namaste',

Che'
NOTE: enjoy this news story about a "proper burial" for a homeless man.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100123/ap_on_re_us/us_marine_proper_burial
[Cut/Paste this link to see the FULL photo gallery of participants at the Global Effort for Earthquake Relief.
http://wonderwall.msn.com/#wallState=1__/tv/hope-for-haiti-now-a-global-benefit-for-earthquake-relief-6362.gallery].