BE THANKFUL

I recently wrote about being thankful for my relationship with my wife. I was thinking about this earlier: I wouldn't consider myself to be an extraordinarily "gifted" person, but one thing I am definitely gifted with is the ability to appreciate what I have. And to enjoy the moment. I don't remember when I started being this way. 

I do remember, while I was in college during the Gulf War, seeing some senseless fight between two fraternities. One of them was a very jock, wrestling fraternity and the other was Pershing Rifles a fraternity for ROTC students. I was just struck by this particular conflict: I reckoned that most of the jock guys were very politically conservative and that they were mostly guys who were in favorite of the war. Yet, they were fighting the guys most likely to have to go. 

And, I thought, over what? What were these two groups fighting over? It may have been tensions from an intramural game, or just someone looked at someone else's girlfriend or something. In other words, they were fighting over nothing. Something about that really stuck with me, and I thought about how our country is at war, but it hardly effects anyone in our country. I thought maybe things might get worse for us at home, but I was going to appreciate my good fortune while I lived under very favorable conditions. 

Anyway, tonight I watched Neil Young's documentary of Crosby Stills Nash & Young's 2006 tour for Neil's Living With War album. It wasn't just about the tour, it was really about the emotional reaction to it. They did an actual fair, balanced job on the film, it wasn't just "Isn't CSNY great?" But you saw accounts of guys who were there, and people who had lost people to the war. It was extremely moving. 

Coincidentally, earlier in the day, I dropped off my wife at the airport: she's going to Africa for ten days. She does a trip like this every summer. I know the lump I get in my throat when she leaves. And I'll see her in less than two weeks! I can't imagine what the soldiers and their families go through. 

After I watched the film, I walked my dog. It was a beautiful night. I was really grateful for my life in general. 

THE DALAI LAMA AT RADIO CITY

I recently got the opportunity to see The Dalai Lama speak at Radio City Music Hall. It was an interesting experience, if a bit dry and dense at times. I'm not a Buddhist, but I find it hard to not like the guy, and I think anyone can learn from his message of non-violence, compassion and avoiding being self-centered. 

And yet, there are people who don't like him, and downright dislike him. The Chinese government, for one. Probably some other organized religions, because they don't have leaders who are as loved as he is. I would guess that it is one of those groups that funded the protest outside of Radio City. 

Whereas most political/religious figures would ignore the fact that they were being protested, The Dalai Lama did address the situation, saying that the protesters believed in a sect of Buddhism that he doesn't believe in. He said that they have their freedom of speech to protest him, and he has his freedom of speech to say that he doesn't share their beliefs. 

The whole experience was interesting to me (even though I dozed off for a minute) and I'm glad I went. 

SIX YEARS!

I always try to appreciate the good things in my life. I would hate to be one of those people who had something great, and didn't appreciate it. I am consciously grateful for all of the good things in my life. 

More than anything, I'm grateful for the awesome relationship I have with my wife. On Monday, we celebrated six years of marriage. We've actually been together for about thirteen years though. Over the last few days, we saw The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (one of our first dates was Lollapalooza in 1995 - the day we went, the Bosstones played two sets), the Ruben museum and The Bronx Zoo. All great experiences. I'm grateful to have someone who I can share these things with. Actually, I would never have thought about going to the Ruben museum; the culture celebrated and commemorated in the museum is something that my wife has exposed me to, and I believe it has opened my mind a bit. 

Anyway, without getting too sappy or too personal, I'm really lucky. But I know it.