Revolution: How Do You Remember to Be Grateful?

Revolution on NBCBy Marcy Kennedy (@MarcyKennedy)

I take my washing machine for granted. And my refrigerator. And cheesecake.

What if they were all gone tomorrow?

New to the fall lineup of TV shows on NBC is Revolution. An unknown phenomenon knocked out every power source across the globe. No electricity. No cars or planes. No batteries. Nothing works.

In the pilot episode, Ben Matheson (who knows the secret behind the power outage and knows the power won’t be coming back on—ever) empties the ice cream from his family’s freezer. He sets an entire carton down in front of his young daughter, Charlie.

“Really?” she asks.

Her mom nods. “It’s all going to melt anyway.”

Charlie shovels ice cream into her mouth.

Ben stops her. “Slow down. I want you to really remember what ice cream tastes like, okay?”

He wants her to savor it because he knows that carton will likely be the last ice cream she ever has.

Charlie nods, but you can tell she doesn’t really understand.

We’re a lot like Charlie sometimes.

No, we’re not in danger of the power going out forever (all joking about the zombie apocalypse aside), but we don’t always recognize how good we have it at this very moment.

So we forget to savor life and easily fall into the pattern of complaining rather than stopping to be grateful for what we have.

We rush through our meals without appreciating them. We grumble about having to do a load of laundry without being grateful for the fact that all we really have to do is sort, load, and fold. My grandma still remembers washing laundry by hand.

Because most of us haven’t truly known the kind of hardship where we go to sleep hungry and don’t know where we’ll be sleeping tomorrow, we don’t understand how blessed we are.

I’m a big offender.

Today is Thanksgiving in Canada, so I’m calling this my fresh start.

Starting today, I’m going to try to eat a little slower, appreciate the time spent with my family a little more, and grumble a little less.

When I’m annoyed about having to change the toilet paper roll, I’m going to be thankful I even have toilet paper (my husband says that people in Iraq use their left hands for the same purpose).

When I’m tired and don’t really feel like cooking dinner, I’m going to be thankful we have the option of take-out or, if I cook anyway, that I didn’t have to raise, kill, and pluck that chicken myself.

My life might be far from perfect, far from what I want it to be, but I have it pretty good.

What mundane item are you most thankful for?

And remember to vote for Zerynthia the warrior My Little Pony in Rebecca Enzor’s PonyFest12!

For writers, there’s still time to register for How to Write Faster and Make the Most of Your Limited Time for only $30. All the classes I’ll be teaching this fall are now also listed here on my website under the classes tab on the menu bar.

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