Attitude of choice

? We can define our lives either by our disappointments or by our undeserved favor.

With uncertainties facing this country as 2012 nears an end, Thanks?giving Day is an even more important holiday than usual. When it?s easy to fret how bad things could get, we need a day to remind ourselves how good we actually have it.

Gratitude has always been an attitude of choice. Each of us can list reasons to feel sorry for our circumstances, as well as reasons to be humbled by our undeserved good fortune. Our outlook will be determined by the list we choose to define ourselves. If we stare longingly up the ladder to gaze at the amenities we do not yet possess?those things our consumer culture says we deserve and should demand?we will surely dwell in disappointment and discontent.

We need at least one day a year to focus our vision on the rungs below our own. For every thing we lack, someone else has less. For every challenge we face, someone faces a bigger one. For every burden we carry, others carry more.

Gratitude is an attitude of choice. And silent gratitude isn?t of much use to anyone. Share it with family, friends and co-workers this week and every week. ?DR

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