Gratitude

I read that in a traditional Chinese classroom, when a teacher beat a pupil the pupil was supposed to thank him!

I don't expect gratitude as a rule.  I'm happy if people just don't respond to my favours by turning judgemental.

I'm grateful for parents.  In the Disney animated movie Mulan, a Chinese girl goes for an interview with the matchmaker and makes a big botch of it.  When she comes home, her father says, "Our tree has many beautiful blossoms this year.  But look, there's one that's blooming late.  I'm sure it'll be the most beautiful of all!" That's one thing we depend on parents for--to judge us less harshly than we judge ourselves.

And I'm grateful for the Internet. Because of it I'm never bored, and I've even used it to improve my social life through groups like meetup.com . Lately I've been taking another stab at online dating, and I've learned to write a pretty good profile.

I'm also grateful for this memoir group.  Sharing your memories is a great way to make friends!  And I'm grateful for Jagmeet Singh and Jeremy Corbyn.  There, I said it! (A year from now I'll be grateful to Bernie Sanders...)