In the essay “Returning The Gift” Robin Wall Kimmerer talks about finding your gift and using it to show gratitude toward the earth. Kimmerer implies that we should each find our natural gift in the world and then use it to make the world a better place. Our society has become such a consumption-driven economy that instead of having gratitude we seek to consume more and more rather than being content. Everyday we are given gifts of the earth but fail to give back equal measure for what we take. In order for the Earth to stay imbalanced and to stay positive, and natural gifts to occur we must show our appreciation towards Earth. By showing our appreciation toward Earth we are ensuring a better tomorrow.
Gratitude is a gift that the earth urgently needs. Consistent gratitude is a form of recognition of the gift and the giver. Daily gratitude can help eliminate the need for more and practicing more of only what we need. Gratitude leads to a society of contentment rather than one that's always in need of more. We human individuals have conventions for appreciation; we apply them formally to each other. We say thank you. “We understand that receiving a gift
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incurs a responsibility to give a gift in return”. Meaning if a boyfriend gives a girlfriend a gift she feels obligated to give him something in return. Kimmerer feels that the Earth itself is a gift.
She feels that everyday we wake up we are showered with gifts from the Earth. She stated “We are showered every day with the gifts of the Earth, gifts we have neither earned nor paid for: air to breathe, nurturing rain, black soil, berries and honeybees, the tree that became this page, a bag of rice and the exuberance of a field of goldenrod and asters at full bloom”. This is where she implies gratitude and the need to be grateful and appreciate the things we have. I feel that Earth is a beautiful thing and we must appreciate it by reducing, reusing, and recycling. Another great way to show your gratitude to Earth is by going green. I agree with her definition of gratitude and feel that it is important that we show it in our everyday
lives. Furthermore, I feel gratitude means being thankful for everything including my own existence, based on the realization that this whole interconnected interacting Earth and beyond including my existence is a gift. Living that awareness is medicine, that is, is wholeness and health for the living Earth and for me. In becoming aware of that I begin to feel the healing power from gratitude to the living Earth. I practice gratitude for my immediate small part of the living Earth by taking care of it, not polluting and exploiting and destroying it, and by advocating for environmentally healthy practices and policies on a planet level. In other words, nature is the main source of our living. We are provided with the our basic necessities by nature. Earth and Nature is also responsible for providing food, shelter, and water to humans. The plants and trees in the world is what provides us with the oxygen we breath. Most people in the world feel that technology is the only thing we should care about or develop. Though technology is great we are given much more to show our gratitude towards and that’s what Kimmerer talks about in her essay. In conclusion, Earth is something that will always be around us and we will always benefit from. We should not devalue Earth by polluting it with smoke, buildings, cars, and things that lack the healthy growing greens. Earth can be transformed into an eco-friendly environment. We want the world to be safe for future generations. The only way to ensure that Earth is protected and we are taken good care of it is to show gratitude. A better tomorrow starts today and it starts with you!
Final Gifts, written by hospice care workers, Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelly, includes various stories detailing each of their life changing experiences that they encountered with their patients. Hospice care allows the patient to feel comfortable in their final days or months before they move on to their next life. This book contains the information considered necessary to understand and deal with the awareness, needs, and interactions of those who are dying. Not only are there stories told throughout the book, there are also tips for one to help cope with knowing someone is dying and how to make their death a peaceful experience for everyone involved. It is important that everyone involved is at as much peace as the person dying in the
As Jonas reached the top of the hill, the chill seemed to grow from his bones. Jonas and Gabe climbed onto the red sled from the memory. He clutched Gabe closer as the sled gained speed and the trees flew by. A few feet from the base of the snowy hill, the sled broke on impact with a rock. Jonas staggered out of the snow, trying to rub warmth into the newchild, who had begun to shiver violently.
The Simple Gift is a free verse novel and a compelling story of a 16 year old boy, Billy who leaves his abusive fathers home and dull schooling life, anticipating for something better than what he left behind. He finds a home in an abandoned freight train outside a small town. He falls in love with a wealthy girl Caitlin and befriends a fellow train resident, Old Bill. Billy is voluntarily homeless but now has a future that he did not have before. This book is a life-affirming look at the characteristics of humanity, generosity and love.
The Simple Gift by Steven Herrick explores the causes and challenges of homelessness in today's youth. It highlights the struggles that a victim of homelessness would go through, such as finding a place to sleep every night, and finding a source of food and money. The Simple Gift also showed some causes of homelessness, which were demonstrated in the book through out the story.
Common curtesy has us saying “Thanks” to the point that we may have lost the intentions associated with the response. W.S. Merwin sums up this anomaly in his poem “Thanks”, saying “with nobody listening we are saying thank you” (Merwin 29). We say thanks for so many meaningless things that it no longer carry’s the true intent of the speaker. Instead it is a response to acknowledge the receiver rather than giving true thanks. This repetition allows for questions regarding what are we truly thankful for, and how we make this known to the receiver. Carl Dennis, in his poem, “Thanksgiving Letter From Harry”, struggles with this question. Not seeing himself thankful for all the negative atrocities around him, he tries to find something he can stand up and be thankful for with limited success, “I’m, thankful today I don’t reside in a country/My country has chosen to liberate” (Dennis 2-3). Generic overuse of such a simple, but meaningful word, has made saying “thanks” somewhat mundane, making it harder to express their gratitude to the receiver seamlessly.
Gratitude is one of the positive emotions shown from research and clinical trials to enhance the general well being of human beings. Gratitude is defined by Emmons (2004) as “a sense of thankfulness and joy in response to receiving a gift, whether the gift be a tangible benefit from a specific other or a moment of peaceful bliss evoked by natural beauty. Emmons and McCullough also see gratitude as an attitude, a habit, a personality trait and a way of handling difficult situations response (Emmons & Stern, 2013).
A wise man once stated, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man 's needs, but not every man 's greed.” -Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi was one of the wise people that realized we need to take better care of our home planet Earth. Another wise person who also thought the Earth should be taken better care of was Rachel Carlson. In 1962 Carlson wrote “The Obligation to Endure” in hopes to educate people on this matter. In this essay I am going to explain how Carlson’s ideas have changed since she wrote her book in 1962.
He draws from biologist Thomas Lewis’s The Lives of a Cell “. . . and after some reflection he arrives at the insight that the whole planet is like a giant living cell whose parts are all linked in symbiosis” (p 14). He continues with: “The Earth has all the virtues we seek, including strength, stability, patience, and compassion. She embraces everyone. We don’t need blind faith to see this. We don’t need to address our prayers or express our gratitude to a remote or abstract deity with whom it may be difficult or impossible to be in touch. We can address our prayers and express our gratitude directly to the Earth. The Earth is right here. She supports us in very concrete and tangible ways. No one can deny that the water that sustains us, the air we breathe, and the food that nourishes us are gifts from the Earth” (p 20). By recognizing what the Earth provides for us, we can begin the path to giving the Earth kindness in return, rather than destruction. Without us, the Earth will go on and heal one day, but without the Earth’s “gifts,” we will not survive, so we must stop destroying
I took a deep breath in and was amazed by the freshness of the air. Gargantuan evergreen trees towered over me and a creek silently trickled beside me. I remember looking up in the cloudless sky and thinking how lucky I was. I finished a rigorous hike in Acadia National Park and was absolutely astounded by the beauty of this earth. A small breeze carried the crisp scent of nature up to my nose. Taking a deep breath in, I truly appreciated the simple beauty of this planet. Earth is not something you can recreate. With global warming on the rise, humans must do everything they can to preserve this planet.
We live in a culture where people are expected to give to others gifts of gratitude and expressions of love. Sometimes these gifts are accepted for what they are worth and other times they are not. We use that which others give us based on several factors. Among them are whether we perceive the gift as valuable, whether we can practically use the gift, or whether the gift is given earnestly and for the right reasons. Because of this there is not one explanation why certain attitudes about gifts exist. We should, however, understand that it is not for us to realize why a gift is given, but rather that someone thinks enough of us to give a gift in the first place. It is certain that if gifts are not accepted and used in a prudent and expeditious manner, then the gifts that are received will deteriorate or whither completely away.
Why do we take the way we live for granted? If we sit back and look at all the things that we are fortunate enough to have, we realize how much we actually take for granted. It will amaze you once you look beyond the surface. I remember back in 2010 when I was just fourteen years old. My grandmother gave me the chance to travel with her to her birthplace Navojoa Sonora. Sonora is a state in Mexico which is where my mom’s side of the family lives. It’s sad to say but my mom’s side of the family is very poor. Once I finally got there I traveled for almost 19 hours. This is when I realized that we took even the simplest things for granted. Like electricity water and food. I stayed there for two weeks and let me tell you it made me appreciate my way of living a lot more than I did.
How civilised is it to ignore the Earth’s sighing and dismiss these difficult truths? In truth, we do not act alone. What we each do affects the other and it affects our home – the Earth.
If a community is sincerely compassionate, it must care about the different components of the environment within the community – human and otherwise. Both of these views align when presented in the context of doing what is right, not for personal benefit but because it is our humanitarian right to care for each other and the things around us. Being able to respect the people closest to us is equally important as respecting the things that cultivate who we existentially become. As we are shaped by our surroundings, it is incredibly important to ensure that we leave the world better for those to come after
It has become apparent that, ever since mankind has emerged out of the plains of Africa and spread all throughout the world, we have been changing the Earth, and not always for the betterment of society. One of the main aspects that this refers to is how humans have affected the environment and its processes. Modern society has always seemed to put our planet near the end of the list of priorities, which can be considered very ironic. After all, Earth is the planet that everyone throughout history has always called “home.” The poem “I Am Dying,” by Marie Negus reflects on the way that the earth may think about the human race regarding their poor treatment of the planet, giving the role of narrator to a very interesting and insightful character: the Earth herself.
... By showing the world the severity of our need for conservation, we will be able to save the earth and get the most out of our resources. We need to fix this problem before it becomes uncontrollable to the point of having no resources to meet our needs. By reducing our consumption of resources, we will be able to become closer to fixing the problem of global warming, high gasoline prices and pesticide-filled meats. The outcome of respecting our world and “going green” will better how we live our lives, our communities and the environment.