Who do you "acknowledge"?

This morning during my “reading time” I started reading Chicken Soup for the Golden Soul, a book filled with “Heartwarming Stories for People 60 and Over”, so the cover states. Now at present, I’m not 60, but I hope to exceed that someday.

I always encourage my students to always read the preface of any book because usually you’ll find things of interest that other readers simply miss out. In starting this read, I actually read the acknowledgments at the beginning of the book, which like the preface probably is seldom read except by those who anxiously wait to see their name in print, much like most of us did when in high school we wanted to see our pictures in the yearbook. I’m sure the only person that recognized at all was one of the co-authors: Jack Canfield. So, really these pages read like the “Begats”; the genealogy of Jesus at the beginning of Matthew in the Good Book of the Gospels.

But as I was reading I tried to put myself in the “shoes” of the people who were grateful for the assistance of others in writing this Chicken Soup book and did the “acknowledging”, and also in the shoes of those being acknowledged. Pages went on and on about how many helped in many ways. Finally at the end of all, others were acknowledged but not mentioned by name.

I think I was drawn to reading this because in our life, much like any book, there are so many who bring us to where we are in life. Even at the outset of the acknowledgements, the writers state that the book took over two years to write, and then corrected themselves by following with: “On second thought, we’ve actually spent all our lives reading, collecting and studying unforgettable, heartwarming stories”. Yes, where we are today is the culmination of all of our thoughts and actions which were allowed to us by the thoughts and actions by those before us who created the inventions and freedoms to use those inventions.

Who are we grateful for today? What are we grateful for in our lives? If we were to write our acknowledgements, who and what would we include, and why?

This is something to think about and certainly a worthwhile “assignment” when one chooses to do so.

Make it a great day!

Ter