17 Comments
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Patris's avatar

Both humbling and wonderful

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Paolo Peralta's avatar

Totally agree

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Cheryl Kloscak's avatar

The perfect post for today! Thank you. 🦃

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Dr. Deborah Hall's avatar

for where your treasure is

there will your heart be also

your readers treasure you

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Weston Parker's avatar

Gosh, that was sweet. I wrote this today in honor of old Thoreau.

The Path To Thanksgiving

The most profound creatures

I have known live in a

perpetual state of thanksgiving.

I think that it’s a worthy goal

to seek to be grateful

for our existence.

Some alternatives are:

regret for being here,

anger for all those years ahead,

filled with tooth brushing, hair cuts,

the tedium of toilet bowl sitting.

How about resentment that bread

must be toasted, or not,

because that seems

just too much to handle?

It may not be our fault

that depression sits on our spirit,

but the moment he takes his knee

off our throat and we can take

a breath, a second’s respite,

we are presented with a choice;

claw crawl away,

any direction will do,

or we may submit

and then admit

there is no path forward

but to slip silently

back under the knee

and wait upon oblivion.

He may not arrive today

but his emissaries are already here,

strewing cynicism about sunsets,

bitching about bills and

ignoring puppies entirely.

On this day we must reach out

and take someone’s hand.

They can drag us out from under

whatever presses down upon us

and we can make a start

on this path to thanksgiving.

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Peter Borkowicz's avatar

Gratuity, the one that Thoreau cites, religious and spiritual is wonderful for those that are not being starved, bombed and shot at.

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Ewan's avatar

Gratuity always has a place

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Maha's avatar

“My wealth is not possession but enjoyment “says it all, doesn’t it!

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Diane’s Blue Forum 👩‍💻's avatar

Great post for today from a Thoreau-lover!

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Jonathan Lalljee's avatar

I adore that this speaks to the experience of things, the quality of feeling rather than the having of things. Thoreau is someone who is relevant no matter the times.

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Tommy Swerdlow's avatar

Preach brother! You make me proud to have graduated from The Walden School on 88th and Central Park West!

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Dr. Deborah Hall's avatar

Thoreau lives!

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"The Major"'s avatar

"my extremities well charred, "

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Patricia L.'s avatar

Perfect and beautiful. Thank you for your work in bringing these gems to us each day.

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David I Hoptman's avatar

Life is a gift to be cherished, protected and respected no matter what form it takes. Every breath and every step is a miracle not to be taken for granted.

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Joe's avatar

Either this man was way ahead of his time and perhaps we’re just catching up to him or, we’ve fallen a very long way from this consciousness. Or maybe, as a third possibility, this consciousness is on a spiral trajectory, and we are hopefully turning back into it, and advancing it.

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Susanne Floyd Gunter's avatar

What a wonderful reflection for the day!

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