"Thank You" --The most important words you'll ever say.

"I'm a fool of the music, choosing to express the music
that gets me through the restlessness and ends the confusion.
When I'm stewing I find solace in this embrace,
the sounds the keys make. The harmonies, that vibrate
down deep to my core. Whenever I'm reading the score,
I know what it's like to weep for the Lord."
--From my song "My Life Upon the Keys"


Last weekend I played piano for a charity event that raised money for two organizations that are helping people in Kenya by educating children and training new entrepreneurs. After playing for about an hour and a half while people arrived, I listened to a man from one of these organizations talk about the impoverished conditions that most Kenyans face, the staggeringly high percentage of them who are infected with AIDS/HIV, and the limited opportunity they have to gain an education and to be successful in the world. Listening to this talk was both upsetting and eye opening, because it reminded me of just how good I have it.

Because let's be honest: we really have a lot to be grateful for! Every day you and I enjoy the luxury of living in a basically orderly and abundant culture. I turn my faucet on and I have running water. I turn my light switch on and I have electricity. I turn the computer on and I have the internet and can write this blog. I go to the gas station and buy relatively affordable gas (not $7 per gallon like in some countries!), and I look in the Yellow Pages and can find hundreds (no, thousands!) of affordable choices for where I can go for fun, where I can shop, where I can dine, where I can get my clothes dry cleaned, where I can go on vacation, etc. The last time I checked, my income level is not considered "upper class," yet relative to many, many people on this Earth, I AM upper class. For some people, being upper class means having enough to eat!

And it just reminds me to say those magic words: "Thank you." To be grateful for all the good things, because they are not things I take for granted. I am grateful to be alive in this country today, to be afforded the opportunity to live in a culture where I can pursue my dreams of being an artist AND get by! I feel so freakin' rich!

And the same probably goes for you, too, as you read this blog. You might not always think you got it good, but take a look around. You don't have to look very far to realize just how good you got it. You could be a Kenyan whose entire family died of AIDS or Malaria while see no opportunity, no jobs, and no good prospects to live a happy, healthy life.

So let's be grateful for all the good around us. And let's also be compassionate to others who experience the crippingly adverse circumstances of extreme poverty. Abundance and well being is all around us, if we just have the eyes with which to see it. And I know no other way that is quite as effective as seeing through the eyes of gratitude.

By the way, what are you grateful for?

Best,

Chris

P.S. If you want to learn more about the organization the man I mentioned is from, here is the link to it: www.kr-foundation.org.