FLAWED

Thankfulness Essay.

Thankfulness

by Sarah DeMarte.

You're probably reading this wondering what a seventeen year old girl would know about being thankful. As far as everyone's concerned, everything I could ever want is handed to me, right? Well, I know a lot about being thankful. I was raised to appreciate everything from the foods I eat to the clothes I wear. But I've also come to appreciate the opportunities I am fortunate to have and even the ones I don't.

I'd like to start out by saying I'm thankful for my parents. No one will ever understand the way my parents joke around like I do. I'm thankful for the way they believe that I can do great things even when I sometimes don't. I've fallen several times in my life, but they've always ushered for me to get back up, threatening people along the way. I'm thankful for my brother and the way he rushes to my side at random times in the day to make sure I'm okay. He promises to protect me as long as he breathes, ignoring me when I insist that I can take care of myself. I'm thankful for the good example he sets, for me as well as the people around him.

On a more personal note, I'm thankful for the situations I've gone through in life. I've never believed I could truly be happy up until now and it's partially because I went through those hardships. I still don't really like these people, but I'm thankful for the reality check they gave me when they decided I deserved to be called out on all of my mistakes. Because now I see things differently and I live by rules of positivism. I'm thankful for the person I've chosen to become. I'm thankful for the seventeen year old girl that wants to grow up and see the world in all it's beauty. I want to do great things for the world and it's people and I'm thankful for the opportunities I have to work towards that goal.

I appreciate knowing what's wrong from what's right just as much as I appreciate knowing my right from my left. I'm thankful for the irritating school systems we have because I value and respect the education we are blessed to be able to learn. I'm thankful for my educators and educational supporters as they've done their complete best to prepare me for the world I will start facing on my own.

Not many people can say this, but I'm thankful for the law and the justice it serves. I appreciate and value the sources of authority we have to maintain the safety of the people. I respect the officers and the soldiers that serve and protect our nation. And I am thankful for the services they provide as they put their life on the line for people like me.

I'm thankful for many things in the world that we don't have all day to list. But as thankful and appreciative as I am, I still believe that the world deserves more. We live in a society where what matters is chosen by random people like you and I, and then justified and idealized by people everywhere. In my eyes, people only become more aware of the materialistic things in the world instead of what can't be made. Don't get me wrong, good quality name brands and makeup serve a few good purposes but they wouldn't nearly be as important if the media didn't portray them as the must have items of the century.

Our society has the tendency to forget about what's important. And you most likely think I'm just some kid with her head in the clouds but I understand the balance of the world. I understand that the creation of what's unnatural effects what is natural. We expect to live in a better place but we don't know where or how to find it. And the problem is that we automatically resort to technology and the production of America's most loved products for the answers.

But how about starting small. We know what hurts us just as we know what hurts the earth. Each of us individually knows what we are fortunate to have and what we aren't. How about acknowledging that? I believe that people sometimes don't realize how fortunate they are to own socks because they are caught up in the hottest new album or what celebrity couple is being "shipped". I honestly feel like if we recognized the smallest things we have and learn to appreciate them, we'd understand the full meaning behind being thankful.

We as the people of a fortunate nation and society often forget to prioritize things by how much they mean to us when we should be prioritizing them by how important they truly are. Your overall mental and physical health is a lot more important than the new Timberland boots that everyone wears. And until we as a society realizes that, we will continue to set ourselves up for uncontrollable failure. But then again, you're probably still reading this wondering what would a seventeen year old girl knows about being thankful.