I recently saw this poem by Andrew Lovato that speaks to the beauty of TODAY. Be present, be grateful, be the best you can be. Andrew is an assistant professor of Speech Communication at Santa Fe Community College.
An Ordinary Day
There is no such thing as an ordinary day
Today is a monumental day in thousands, if not millions of lives
For some this is the day of their birth while others will be leaving this earth
For many around the world, this is the day that they have been waiting a long time for…
This is the day that they marry or perhaps they are leaving on a long journey not knowing when they will return to all that is familiar
Someone is leaving home to go to school, entering a hospital, or going off to war
This is the day that someone will remember for unexpected good fortune, the day that disaster strikes
This is the day that an unexplainable miracle occurs
For some, today might seem like an ordinary, uneventful day that in retrospect will turn out to be the beginning of a subtle shift that will completely alter their lives
For some, today is better forgotten, a wasted day wallowing in self-pity, anger, or hatred
Some may see this day as dull and uninspiring, another in a string of indistinguishable days lost in sameness and trapped in circumstance, perhaps in prison, bedridden, or without hope
For others, today is a day of indescribable ecstasy, surrounded by loved ones, flushed by good spirits, enjoying the nectar of joy and health
The one constant: Today we all share the same sun, breath of life, and experience the miracle of our beating hearts
An African woman cooking over an open fire, a Chinese farmer planting seeds, a Norwegian fisherman pulling in nets before dark, a child begging in the streets of Brazil, a truck driver in Poland, a soldier in Nicaragua, a student walking to school in India, an office worker riding the subway in New York
We must all eat and sleep, we all laugh, cry and dream
Mortality is our providence and our time will someday surely come
So let us for this one day find unity in what we share. Let us reflect on how we are alike and let this understanding spark a wildfire of compassion that will fuel the future of our beautiful earth