Tag Archive | crowded streets

About Gratitude

Sign Of Life

Accustomed to the pavement and looks of disdain
From each passerby, one must compartmentalize
Feelings of desperation, shame, and hopelessness
From the art of the sale, as the face must express
Sincere need. One must hope people will sympathize
With their circumstance. This is what drives one insane.

Homelessness of the body, like that of the soul
That has lost its connection to reality,
Is a problem that people encounter each day.
People wish that the issue would just go away
But it won’t. It’s a part of our society
That in some basic ways is way out of control.

At some nook on the freeway the human billboard
Holds the message that cannot be well understood.
We don’t want to be interrupted from our own
Many issues. We won’t throw the poor dog a bone.
Trying to stuff the guilt doesn’t do any good
Because we’re not as practiced at being ignored.

Yet there are success stories. There are people who
Have reached out in a big way. Anyone can be
Faced with hard times. People who deal with homelessness
Work for others’ compassion. They are nonetheless
Worthy of being happy. Those who don’t agree
Have some gratitude issues they should attend to.

Gratitude

Giving Thanks

Sometimes in life we pass over the simple things
That surround us that are wonderful to behold.
We shift our focus to the things that chip away
At our spirits, yet we can be thankful each day
For the little things. Don’t let your life be controlled
By the world and its most chaotic happenings.

Once a woman was walking down a busy street
When she spotted a beggar with an empty bowl
And a cardboard sign that read, ‘Blind Please Help,’ so she
Took the sign, turned it over, and wrote caringly.
What she wrote must have come directly from her soul.
Having put change in the bowl her task was complete.

Pretty soon the old beggar heard lots of change fall
Into his bowl. He’d wondered what the woman wrote
On his sign. He asked someone to read it to him.
The delighted passerby was filled to the brim
With compassion and read the beggar’s humble note.
What was written there indeed was not something small.

‘Today is a beautiful day, and I am so
Happy you have the privilege to be able
To see it,’
wrote the woman. Your gratitude brings

True fulfillment and many wonderful blessings.
Gratitude need not always be demonstrable
To others. It’s one way that the spirit can grow.