Taken for granted…

Over the weekend I was digging at an awkward angle and my back has been sore ever since, so consequently I haven’t been able to move as freely and as naturally as I usually do. I also seem to have picked up some kind of tummy bug and am getting occasional graunching pains. I don’t share this for the sake of moaning (though we all enjoy a good moan don’t we?), but rather because it makes me aware of just how much I take my body for granted. For 50 odd years it has transported me around, effortlessly doing my bidding, with nary a pause between thought and action. And now normal services have been interrupted…

I know I am lucky to have enjoyed good health and I do thank God for that, but if I pause to think of all the things I take for granted, on whose effortless functioning the smooth running of my life depends, things like my:-

• Car
• Computer
• Mobile phone
• Electric power
• Clean water
• Plentiful food
• Home

The list gets bigger and bigger, going down to ever more fundamental levels. It isn’t news that we in the west live a privileged life style by comparison with huge numbers of our fellow humans, but it is a huge truth.

Not only do we take these complex systems that deliver services effortless to our door for granted, but also so many of the people that we casually interface with. So, my thought for today is, take time out to show a little gratitude, a little recognition to one of those people who you depend on, and try and truly enjoy some of these blessings we all take for granted.

“We have no right to ask when a sorrow comes, ‘Why did this happen to me?’ unless we ask the same question for every joy that comes our way.”

“The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.” William James

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 at 09:55 and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.