The Top 8 Things to Be Grateful for Each and Every Day
佚名 / Anonymous
This list seems very basic. Yet not everyone in this country or in the world has, or will be able to be grateful for, all of these things. This list is one which, hopefully, everyone reading it can say applies to them. Perhaps if we are thankful for these basic things daily, it will help ourselves and others gain more abundance, or at least we will appreciate our own more.
1. Waking up Alive.
George Burns once said a great day for him was waking up and not seeing candles, a church, and his friends all dressed in black. He was blessed financially and healthwise. Many, in this country and in other countries, are lucky to make it to age 10, let alone 100.
2. Decent Air to Breathe.
While everyone has this, in some places in the world, the air is so polluted and foul smelling, the people die of respiratory ailments just from breathing.
3. A New Day to Learn and to Earn a Livelihood.
Most of us live in areas with very low unemployment rates. If we choose and need to work and have a job, we can earn money daily or weekly somehow. Others are in school or educational environments. They can learn or increase what they already know.
Many people have no jobs and will never have a chance to learn a basic education.
4. A Home in Which to Eat, Sleep, Live, and Relax.
We are blessed if we are not one of the millions of people whose home consists of a car, an abandoned house or building, cardboard or tin constructed “shelters”, or the bare earth or grass. Think about pictures you may have seen of the homeless when you complain about your home or apartment being too cold or warm, or the utility bill being too high.
5. Ample Clean Food to Eat & the Option to Buy As Much As We Need.
Most of us never have experienced waiting in line 2~6 hours to buy a loaf of bread, some flour, eggs, etc. We don’t know what it is like to wait for a truck to pull up and hand out boxes or containers of rice or Red Cross rations. We’ve never dug in dumpsters behind a grocery store or restaurant to get the food that was thrown out to have for our daily meal. Food is expensive for many.
6. Friends, Family and Pets.
Most of us have one or more of these three things in our life. In some parts of the country and the world, people are alone, young children are alone. And the “pet” may have to end up feeding a family or a group of people due to lack of any other food supply.
7. Clothing to Protect Us from the Elements & to Even Enhance Our Appearance.
True, there are places in the U.S. where people in poverty lack adequate clothing. Compared to our population, however, the majority of us have adequate clothes, and many of us have clothing that is both functional and attractive as well.
8. The Gift of Choice.
This is something everyone has no matter where they live. We all have the choice to make decisions, to act, and to be however we wish, as adults at least. This was given to us at birth and is never taken away, but is often taken for granted, ignored, or not fully developed or used.
这张清单上罗列的看似非常简单。然而，在这个国家及至整个世界，并非人人都能做到对所有的事物心存感激。希望每个人读了这张清单之后，都能按照上面所说的去做。或许，如果我们每天对普通的事物都心存感激，将有助于我们自己和其他人拥有更多丰富的收获，或者，至少会更多地感激我们自己所拥有的。
1 . 感激每天都能醒来。
乔治·伯恩斯说过，对于他来说，醒来时看不到蜡烛、教堂，以及所有的朋友身穿素衣，那便是美好的一天。在经济条件和健康状况方面，他都非常幸运。很幸运的是，这个国家和其他国家的许多人，十岁时就懂得了这个道理，更别说100岁时了。
2 . 感激每天都能呼吸到新鲜的空气。
在世界的一些地方，人人都面临这样的问题：空气污染严重，到处散发着恶臭，人们因呼吸导致的疾病而丧生。
3 . 感激有新的一天去学习和生存。
我们中的许多人都居住在一个失业率非常低的地区。如果我们选择或需要去劳动工作，不论每天或每周我们都能挣到钱。而在学校或教育环境下的其他人，能够在他们所知道的基础上学习和扩充更多的知识。
很多人没有工作，将来也不可能有机会接受基础教育。
4 . 感谢有一个可以吃饭、睡觉、居住和放松的家。
如果我们不是有车、别墅或房子、避暑区、空地或草坪的数百万人中的一员，也要心存感激。当你抱怨你的住宅或公寓太冷、太热或支付太高时，就想一想那些无家可归的人，那些画面你肯定见过。
5 . 感谢能吃到干净的食物，还有权买自己想要的物品。
多数人从未经历过排队等2~6个小时去买一个面包、一些面粉，还有鸡蛋等等。对于像等待卡车去拉并分发成箱或成罐的大米或是画有红叉的配额不足，我们毫不知情。我们也从未在食品杂货店的储藏室或饭店去捡那些每天被扔掉的食物。对很多人来说，食物是非常昂贵的。
6 . 感谢朋友、家庭和宠物。
生活中，多数人都会拥有这三者之一或更多。在本国和世界的部分地区，人们都很孤独，年轻的孩子也是一样。而由于其他食物的缺乏，一个家庭或一群人必须要停止喂养“宠物”。
7 . 感谢有衣遮体，甚至可以修饰我们的外型。
的确如此，在美国的许多地方，依然有缺衣少穿的穷人。
然而，与我们的人口相比，多数人都有足够的衣服，而且许多人的衣服在功能和外观上都非常好。
8 . 感谢我们拥有选择的权利。
无论居住在哪儿，这是每个人都会拥有的东西。我们都可以，至少成年人可以这样有选择性地去做决定，去实施、去完成我们的梦想。这是我们出生时就被赋予的权利，永远都不会被剥夺，然而却常常被理所当然地剥夺、忽视，没有完全被发掘或好好利用。
1. Most of us in areas with very low unemployment . If we choose and need to work and have a , we can earn money daily or weekly somehow. Others are in or educational environments. They can learn or increase what they know.
2. We don’t know it is like to wait for a truck to pull up hand out boxes or containers of rice or Red Cross rations. We’ve dug in dumpsters behind a grocery store or restaurant to the food that was thrown out to have for our meal.
1. 感谢有一个可以吃饭、睡觉、居住和放松的家。
2. 如果我们选择或需要去劳动工作，不论每天或每周我们都能挣到钱。
3. 我们都可以，至少成年人可以这样有选择性地去做决定，去实施、去完成我们的梦想。
1. Many, in this country and in other countries, are lucky to make it to age 10, let alone 100.
let alone：更不必说；听任；不打扰
2. We don’t know what it is like to wait for a truck to pull up and hand out b