“I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me,but it’s hard to stay mad when there’s so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once and it’s too much. My heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst. And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it. And then it flows through me like rain, and I can’t feed anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life. You have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m sure. But don’t worry. You will someday.” (Lester Burnham, American Beauty)

People have less avenues in today’s society for expressing their thankfulness. In a growingly individualistic society we depend on one another less and have less reason to be grateful. Perhaps too communal expressions of thanks like hymns in schools are on the out. And perhaps to state the most obvious thing, in an increasingly agnostic society, individuals have no God to thank for the simple glories of life. But humanity I feel has a deep need to be thankful. It alters us and helps us gain perspective on the good and the bad.

True thankfulness isn’t the falsely chirpy practice we sometimes imagine. In the bible we find Job who remains thankful despite all the awful things which occur. It is in his darkness where he finds a a light and when all is stripped away, he still praises God for life. It appears to me that only because of the darkness are we thankful for the light.