Cracked Pot Meditations – Having Versus Gratitude

Meditation for November 24th, 2016

Having Versus Gratitude

Today people all over the United States of America tore into a large game bird to celebrate the wonderful feeling that is gratitude. No one really knows how this very American holiday started, but the myth is that it was the last time the white Christian settlers showed the Native Americans gratitude for helping them to survive the winter of the American northeast. 

Gratitude is one of those words that gets confused for listing things you have. I have good health, a great family, a kick ass girlfriend, a PS4, a pretty great job, a nice place to live, no known babies… These are all things I have. These are all things I have and like that I have. 

Gratitude is the action of maintaining the things I have. I have to take certain actions to make sure I continue to not have any known babies. I have to show up to work continuously to have gratitude for my job. 

Sometimes gratitude is knowing that you have access to things you have they other people can’t even dream of being allowed access to. Pointing out that to your older family members who never had to look at how their world got so good is a great way to take the wind out of the Thanksgiving sails. 

Accepting that some people got shot on their open mouths so you have the things you have do nothing for the person who is getting shit in their open mouth. Changing your life so that the shit misses their mouth is a practice of gratitude. 

Yes, you get to choose what you buy and do and you don’t have to have any regard to how that effects the world around you, but gratitude is also knowing humbly that you can live without a thing when it has devastated a people or the earth itself. 

Whole mountains are hollowed out and indigenous people are displaced or even forcefully moved to make sure you have batteries for your phones, laptops, and hybrid cars. You could be okay with that and not okay with the Dakota pipeline, but that means you have a phone and selling oil isn’t effecting you at all. 

The gratitude is in caring for what you have. Some things need to be cared for to keep it longer, while other things need to be cared for before it goes away. When a person in your life dies, do you feel satisfied with the short time you had or are you saddened by how little effort you put in the relationship. Or are you just a big drama whore whom makes everything about oneself?

Horrible people get jobs, have babies, graduate college, get married, buy houses, and with enough money get anything they want. That is why listing things you are grateful for is just listing things you have. It’s how you treat those things that make it gratitude. 

The feeling of gratitude comes from knowing that at one time you couldn’t have it and/or someday you won’t have it anymore. Then there are things that you just have and you take for granted as things you always will have. 

Some say the opposite of gratitude is privilage. You believe that you deserve whatever it is. You might not think about how some people live without it or have an inferior version of it. You treat it like it is disposable and that there is always going to be more. 

I once talked to a guy from Austria when I was in Spain. He said that Europeans go to the store and buy one very nice suit. This suit will last many years, so you will have to learn how to repair it. Anytime you have to wear a suit, this is the suit you will wear. 

When he was in the United States, he noticed that people bought many suits. The suit always had to be new and after it was worn, it was never worn again or became one in a rotation of several suits one could wear when they needed to wear a suit. There is no gratitude for suits in American culture. 

The Austrian had a very nice smart looking suit that he had for several years and I have three suits that I do t want to wear because I want a new suit that will look better on me then the perfectly fine suit I already own. 

Don’t just say your thankful you have stuff, treat it with gratitude.