Being grateful

One of the things that impacted me on arriving in America was the phenomenon of thanksgiving, and the spiritual gratitude that many Americans have for what they have. I think it's the reason for the dynamic positivity that The British and many foreigners find so distasteful.

I wallowed in envy and negativity in Britain because it was fashionable to do so as the Socialist I was then. My ideal as a sociailist was that the unfairness of the world was something that we as human beings needed to rectify. I saw the "us and them" phenonenon, and I was one of the "Us", and it made me angry. As far as I was concerned, why was it that one man could work all hours of the week and have so little, and yet another person have so much without lifting a finger?

Sometimes, I've found myself doing similar things, feeling bitter and resentful that I, too, have "so little" here in my life, compared to others.

But the problem is that so many of us don't realise just how wealthy we are.

I was just looking at myself through the eyes of a survivor of a death camp. Today is the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima, and there are a number of TV programmes commemorating it, and discussing the whole subject. One of the programmes was about a US serviceman who was kept as a POW in a Japanese camp, and went on about the brutal, inhumane treatment he received at the hands of these people. He talked about how some men would just give up and die, and how easy it was to do that.

Then I imagined what one of those men would say to me, were he here sitting with me in my little one bedroom apartment. I've mentioned before that I "channel" people, and I think in many respects all channelling is is having a perspective of someone who's dead, or who might exist as a potential human being or other world spirit. Anyway, this is what he says to me:

Do you have any understanding of how wealthy you are, being alive? Do you understand what a precious gift it is, just to take a breath, or to drink clean water, or to taste food? Do you have any notion of how wealthy you are, with your air conditioned apartment, and your refigerator, and your convertible car, and your computer, and your TV, and the roof over your head and the ability to travel where you want to?

Do you understand that amazing gift of your sight, and your hearing, and the locomotion of your body? That you can move and think and read and smell flowers? That you're free to swim and dance and laugh and write and drink and make love?

It galls me that I spent so many years being beaten and starved and tortured, as I chose to fight a war for freedom, and yet there are so many people who don't appreciate the simple things they have in life.

I'm furious that you sit, depressed, and fearful of life for even one moment, when I'd give anything to be alive again to enjoy seeing the stars, drink a Martini, and feel the breeze across my face.

This 28 year old, 60 odd years dead man wandered around my apartment, looking at the things I have, and looked at me and shook his head.

And then I realised how we really should be so grateful for what we have in this life. And I'm certain that gratitude - simple gratitude - is what's made America the powerful and prosperous nation it is today. People who are grateful are happy. It's a plain truth. Sometimes, it takes the worst things to happen to a person for them to understand that what they have is so important, and a wonderful miracle, regardless of how little it is compared with others.

Just to be alive is a miracle. And that's what this man's spirit showed me.

And it strikes me that the people who hate America and what it stands for are the people who aren't grateful. They're the people like Osama Bin Ladin, who was one of a family who became rich from the proceeds of working with American businesses, and can't bear to think that he needed to do so. Far from appreciating the wealth that brought him the education and opportunity, he wants to kill the goose that gave him the golden egg, not wishing to be reminded that were it not for The West, his own family and nation would still be living in relative poverty, and fighting wars over water wells, not oil wells.


The brutal reality of it all is that everyone would be so much happier if we all were grateful for what we've got.

I know I am, even though many of my hopes were dashed, and that my ambitions really haven't come to anything much. I know I'm not famous; nor have I done anything particularly worthwhile or noble, other than saving a couple of lives, perhaps.

But I can only have sympathy for people who hate, or are greedy or envious, because it means they can never be in touch with what's there right now, in all its glory.

I'm a very, very wealthy man. I'm lucky, and my life is an absolute miracle. And I am grateful.