Part 5 in our series on gratitude: The I in gratitude represents involvement in our community. Involvement shows that we are grateful for what we have and we are grateful for the opportunity to make it even better. I salute people who perform public service as elected officials, on boards of charitable organizations or churches, or leaders in youth groups such as Girl Guides, Boy Scouts, cadets and children’s sports (photo – an Eagle Scout project provides school supplies to Iraqi children)..
We often lament about how we don’t like how our world is evolving. We complain that there are not enough things for kids to do, our politicians don’t understand our needs, our town has too much garbage blowing around, our province never gets the recognition it deserves, our country never gets the respect it should and our world is being destroyed by pollution.
Yet for all that we complain about, we don’t do anything about it. It is easy to be an armchair quarterback, citing all the reasons why other people are letting us down. However, if we choose to do nothing to improve the conditions that we are complaining about, then in some ways, we are almost as guilty as those that we blame for the issues in the first place.
Involvement in our community shows that we are grateful for what we have and we are grateful for the opportunity to make it even better. I salute people who perform public service in elected office. I salute people who serve tirelessly on boards of charitable organizations or church boards. I salute parents who are getting involved with their children’s schools or participating in youth groups such as Girl Guides, Boy Scouts, cadets and children’s sports.
People who serve the community in groups such as Kinsmen, Rotary, the Lions Club, the Shriners and other groups like these also recognize a higher calling to serve their community. As I mentioned earlier, there are an infinite number of choices, one guaranteed to fit our interests, our available time and our ability.
When we serve in groups such as these, we must also recognize the higher calling to encourage more people to get involved. Our society is desperate for more people to get involved to make a difference – the minority of people are carrying the load in terms of contributing to our society in this way.
We often say we are too busy to get involved yet we find time to do things of no value to others or ourselves. We possibly assume that there are enough people already involved – there aren’t.
Next week in celebrating the New Year, our 6th installment on Gratitude is a lesson on how to be thankful for everything (represented by the second T in Gratitude) and to see everything before us as a gift, something to be cherished. Take care and be well. Harry Tucker