shorty: appreciate

Appreciation is never owed, never required, always skillful.

Details

When I look around the world so many people feel like the Good Fortune they have attained is expected, Fair, Nothing to be celebrated. But when you look with two eyes and see how many people cheat, how many people lie, how many people steal, how many people twist things just so that they can get a little more of the scraps of the world-that's when I can marvel and appreciate when a shop clerk makes a little effort to pack the bags better, or there's a roadside stop with a clean bathroom. And the people who I appreciate are not Buddhists. They aren't necessarily religious or even "wholly good", but they can understand that there is something called goodness that we can treat each other with. At least sometimes. Even the most radical ("Trumpy") people can have that goodness.

Appreciation is never required, but when given it nourishes the GIVER. It attunes me to see with two eyes the ways that people treat each other well and also don't. It's so easy to get caught up in "the world is terrible for me". Also easy to get caught up in an idea that "the world is wonderful for me". The world is a very weird mix, but our actions do matter. Including the tiny kindnesses of others and myself. And the tiny appreciation of myself and others.

With metta.