November is the month for gratitude. Having gratitude means we express humility and thankfulness for the people, opportunities, gifts, and talents afforded us.
I shared the following with our students on Wednesday, November 1 in my monthly video talk on character.
The year was 1933. The Great Depression had reached its lowest point as nearly 15 million Americans, 20 percent of the population, were unemployed and over half of the nation’s banks had failed. Others who remained employed had their wages reduced which also decreased their buying power. Soup kitchens, breadlines, and a growing population of homeless people were common across many cities and towns in the U.S.
Despite all of these challenges, many Americans learned how to make do with what they had. They developed an attitude of gratitude and learned how to be grateful for what they did have and not what they were going without.
We have learned throughout our history that it’s not what you don’t have, but what you do with what you have that counts the most. That type of perspective only happens when you have gratitude. Folks during the Great Depression may have eaten the same type of meal for days on end, but they learned to be grateful that they had food.
Marty Bryan, age 84, from Columbus, Ohio shared, “I lived through The Great Depression and can remember eating beans for breakfast, lunch, and dinner when I was four years old but at least we had something to eat. Others didn’t.”
Another resident from Columbus, Ohio, Maxine Bartelt, age 87, recalls. “Eating was different in those days, too. We didn’t come to a table and complain because the food wasn’t what we liked. There were not many choices. We ate or went without. Some days bread and gravy tasted very good.”
The point here is this. We all have challenges and struggles we have to deal with from time to time. And it can be easy to get down because of those challenges. But it’s during those challenging times where a focus on being truly grateful for what we have will get us through. Because no matter what issues we may have, there is always someone out there in the world who has even greater challenges.
Take a moment and think about what or who you are grateful for in your life and let that sink in. For me personally, I am truly grateful, thankful, and joyful that I have the opportunity to serve as the principal at L-DHS every day. I am grateful and appreciative that I have a supportive and loving family at home that allows me to be in this role at Lee-Davis because quite frankly "I’m living the dream" every day.