Living with gratitude

Once a fifty - feet whale was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She had hundreds of yards of line roap wrapped around her tail, and her torso and a line tugging in her mouth.
A fisherman spotted her and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was in a vad state; the only way to save her was to dive and untangle her. But it was a very dangerous work. One slap of the tail could kill a rescuer.
They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her. When she was free, the divers say she swam ib what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around. She was thanking them. Some of the divers said that it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The man who cut the rope out of her mouth said that her eyes were following him the whole time, and he would never be the same.
Gratitude is the most beautiful and the noblest form of courtsey. The story of the greatful whale is very inspiring. If a whale can express its gratitude towards the people who saved it, how much more must man be thankful to the numerous people because of whom he is able to live a happy life. Man is intelligent and reasonable. He easily understands the sacrifice which other people makes for his well - being. But quite often he takes it for granted and doesn't feel the need of being grateful. How many of us will thank a ricksaw driver for taking us to the place we want to go ? How many of us feel that it is necessary to thank the people, who wash our clothes or clean our house ? If we prepare a list of people who help us to live easily, and in comfort, we will be surprised to see that our entire life is dependent upon other people. To satisfy our need, the toil and sacrifice of other people are needed. If we are aware of the fact, we will be greatful people and a greatful heart can only lead a happy life.
We are happy when other people thank us. Likewise, others also will be happy when we thank them. The normal tendency is to take things for granted. We seldom are ready to give credit to others for the achievements we made because of them. From the moment of our conception in our mother's womb till the moment of our departure from this world, we are dependent upon others. Our parents and teachers deserve life - long gratitude from us. In our day to day life we receive help from many people, some of them we may not even know. The soilders who guard our boundries risk their lives for our sake. Similarly, so many people work day and night to make life enjoyable for us.
Being grateful for graces we recive is the best way to forget our sufferings and shortcomings. There are many things which we don't have or are in badly need of. But there are many things which we already have. If we are disappointed because of the things we don't have, we will not be able to enjoy our life. But if we are concentrating on the things we have, we will be grateful to God and others, and we will be happy.
Hence let us count our blessings rather than our wounds. And thank God for putting roses among the thorns than complaining that God put thorns on roses. It is not sufficient always to be thankful. But we may have to express it. That is why it is written that "Unexpressed gratitude is like winking at someone in the dark. You know how you feel about them, but they don't."