Think and Thank

The words “Thank” and “Think” hail from the same root, reminding us that
thanksgiving comes from thinking about our blessings.
Helen Keller once said, “I have often thought it would be a blessing if each
human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his
early adult life. It would make him more appreciative of sight and the joys of
sound.”
Senator Richard Neuberger once said the experience of contracting cancer
changed him. “A change came over me which I believe is irreversible. Questions of
prestige, of political success, of financial status, became all at once unimportant. In
their stead has come a new appreciation of things I once took for granted-eating
lunch with a friend, scratching Muffet’s ears and listening for his purr, the company
of my wife, reading a book or magazine in the quiet cone of my bed lamp at night,
raiding the refrigerator for a glass of orange juice or a slice of coffee cake. For the
first time I think I am actually savoring life. I shudder when I remember all the
occasions that I spoiled for myself-even when I was in the best of health-by false
pride, synthetic values, and fancied slights.
1 From a sermon by the author.