Concrete Truck

I was standing at the busy downtown intersection.

I was walking to my workstation in the morning alone.

Then a concrete truck made a turn and passed in front of me.

The huge mixer was turning and the name of the company spun around.

I considered, “What was that?”

It was a vehicle with a load of wet concrete.

It was in route to off load the contents soon.

Surely some workers had prepared the final destination.

They were waiting for the soft grey stuff to arrive.

They will spread it and then one day later it will be solid.

That is just a little amazing.

Clever people have perfected a system to put concrete anywhere.

This process is happening everyday all around this large city.

The sidewalk where I stood was poured years ago.

And it will remain to serve others for many more years.

Then I go to thinking of what else makes our modern lives possible.

Some of those resources include: asphalt, steel, glass, bricks, wires, pipes, lumber, granite, plastic, paint and more.

I am especially appreciative of the porcelain used to make toilets strong, easy to clean and attractive.

Just like the goldfish does not notice the water, we do not notice such things.

So I considered how to better notice these modern benefits.

On our shared planet there are still nomadic tribes in Africa and Tibet.

There are still aboriginal tribes in the Amazon rain forest.

Some of them have some of our modern conveniences.

But their daily life is not nearly as enmeshed as ours are with artificial aids.

It is easy to notice that the glass is half empty.

It takes some awareness to notice that it is also half full.

The fact is that the glass is both half empty and half full.

This fullness and emptiness are happening at the same time.

The advertising industry works constantly to get us to focus on the emptiness.

There are thousands of messages saying your glass is tragically half empty.

But look here happiness is around the corner.

You just need to work harder to get more money to buy the newest gizmo.

Then you just might have a full glass.

It is not in anyone’s self-interest to help you notice what you have got.

The fact that the glass is half full does not stimulate more sales.

Concrete sidewalks are far more useful than muddy paths.

Flush toilets are better than old fashion out houses.

Glass windows allow the light and sights of the outside inside.

But all those are paid for so there is no profit in beating the drum for them.

However to better practice daily gratitude it takes a little alertness.

There are plenty of things to be thankful for that we walk past daily.

The concrete truck was my wakeup call today to notice that sliver of my life.

May you too wake up to see the good in life and be more grateful.