with gratitude, my thanks
"Two kinds of gratitude: The sudden kind we feel for what we take; the larger kind we feel for what we give." ~ E. A. Robinson
I remember watching an Oprah show where her staff took the studio audience into a room full of left shoes. No right shoes, only the left ones. "They’re free," the staffers said, and the studio audience leapt over each other to get those shoes.
No right shoes, only left ones.
It was a show about human behavior when we are offered free things–many of us become competitive (or worse).
"Why?" Oprah asked when the show started taping and the audience was seated happily in their seats with their left shoes, "Why did you want those left shoes so badly? Do you all have family members at home with one leg?" Many in the audience answered, "we took them because they were there."
Unbeknownst to me, some kind reader(s) nominated 37days for a "Best of Blogs" award–if it was you, thank you so very much–I’m both honored and humbled that you found these essays worthy of nomination.
When I found out about it, I’ll admit that I didn’t even know what the BoB awards were–turns out they are intended to celebrate and highlight less well-known blogs, ones that perhaps are out of the mainstream, not the biggies of the Blogiverse.
Out of thousands of nominations, 10 blogs were chosen as finalists in each category–and 37days is one of the 10 finalists in the "most inspirational blog" category!
All of a sudden, I’ve been offered a left shoe–and like those Oprah guests, the mere offer has created the desire! It’s interesting how that happens. If you are so inclined, voting is going on now; the winners will be announced on January 30. In voting, you’ll also find some great blogs to investigate.
As for me, I’m sitting here with this fantastic left shoe and just wanted to celebrate and thank you for holding the right shoe where you are; together, it’s a nice pair, isn’t it?
Thank you again to those who nominated 37days for this honor. The gratitude I feel, as E.A. Robinson said, is both the kind I feel for what I take from you and for what I’ve allowed myself to give.
