Thought for today:
"When I think back over all of the things that I have ever been given in my life, high among them must be the gratitude I have received for things well done or for the help I have given another. Unlike some thankful present of appreciation, gratitude given and received remains with both the donor and recipient forever. It reaffirms you as being both lifelong 'blood-brothers or blood-sisters' which no bond will break. The reason for this, according to Cicero, is that 'gratitude' is not only the greatest of virtues but is also the parent of all others!
As I was growing up, my father and mother frequently exhorted their children to always say 'thank you' and to pray that we never ran short of gratitude to hand out to those who helped us. We were constantly reminded that 'gratitude' can be owed by all and paid by all; even the poorest among us. My mother repeatedly emphasised that, 'No duty is greater than the giving of thanks and that if we could find all manner of small things to give thanks for, we would always have lives filled with lots of things to be grateful for!' We also learned as children that if a person feels that they have little to be thankful for in this life, they are less likely to be thankful for anything else that comes their way.
Sadly, for many of us, it is only the loss of something precious in our lives that makes us appreciate the gratitude we failed to give when we had it! Indeed, life itself can have the greatest impact on our futures whenever it reminds of its brevity and how close to death it often is. While I have always loved every minute of my life since childhood, it is only since I learned that I have a terminal illness that will shorten it, that has made me treasure every minute of it. No more do I care about the seasonal temperaments, whether the sun shines, or it snows, or rains, hails or storms; just as long I'm around to see it happening!
During the years between 1989-2005, apart from raising over £200,000 for charitable causes from the profits of my book sales, I learned something very important. I remembered my parents' words and realised that I could never have achieved any of my charitable work without the unstinting support, help and constant generosity of the community and their schools as a whole.When I eventually finished writing children's stories for schools, I wanted to make sure that I found a way of adequately 'thanking' them. Gratitude is a two-way process and if it only runs one way down any street, it is infinitely lessened in purpose.
Three acts of community giving I shall mention here to illustrate. During the 90's, some poor parents in Mirfield bought one of their daughters a brand new pink bicycle for Christmas (a story which later became 'Annie's Christmas Surprise' in my Omnibus of 'Action Annie' stories). The family house got burgled and the pink bicycle (which had been stored in the shed), got stolen the week before Christmas. The young girl was heartbroken until I persuaded a local cycle shop to donate a pink bicycle to the girl in question the week before Christmas. The bicycle was given to her by 'Father Christmas' in a school assembly and I will never forget the look of gratitude and amazement on her face as she caressed its black saddle and rang its ding-a-ling bell.
My second illustration was a gift to the people of Falmouth in Jamaica (the old slave capital), that was funded by the whole of the Mirfield community on January 1st, 2000, when their thousands of £s paid for the printing, production and shipping of two thousand books of 'The Kilkenny Cat' to Falmouth. We did this so that the children of Falmouth could have their own special millennium gift from Mirfield folk that the Jamaicans could read and sell to raise vital school funds.The book was so well received, that it was later placed on the school curriculum of all thirty-two Falmouth schools, and it was also used in helping to promote my work with the Jamaican Minister for Youth and Education the following year in a trans-Atlantic pen-pal project between thirty-two Yorkshire schools and thirty-two Falmouth schools, where the aim was to acquaint oneself with different cultures, beliefs and lifestyles as well as reducing racism between the black and white pupil.
My final illustration of gratitude occurred after I decided to put up my pen in the early 2000's. I wanted to say 'thank you' to all of the Yorkshire schools who had bought my books for their pupils for over 14 years and who had been primarily responsible for raising a large part of the £200,000 for charitable causes. So, instead of selling them my last book I wrote for children, I used my last publication of 'The Kilkenny Cat Trilogy' as a present which each school was given as a gift. This was a gesture of £42 per school and it was stimulated by my mother's words of, 'Billy, when folk have treated you well, always say thank you properly!'
So, wherever one finds all manner of good and praises it, there, one's flag of eternal gratitude is planted in the soil of appreciation. Finally, never forget that the highest form of gratitude one can ever express is being happy with being alive today!" William Forde: March 8th, 2017.
"When I think back over all of the things that I have ever been given in my life, high among them must be the gratitude I have received for things well done or for the help I have given another. Unlike some thankful present of appreciation, gratitude given and received remains with both the donor and recipient forever. It reaffirms you as being both lifelong 'blood-brothers or blood-sisters' which no bond will break. The reason for this, according to Cicero, is that 'gratitude' is not only the greatest of virtues but is also the parent of all others!
As I was growing up, my father and mother frequently exhorted their children to always say 'thank you' and to pray that we never ran short of gratitude to hand out to those who helped us. We were constantly reminded that 'gratitude' can be owed by all and paid by all; even the poorest among us. My mother repeatedly emphasised that, 'No duty is greater than the giving of thanks and that if we could find all manner of small things to give thanks for, we would always have lives filled with lots of things to be grateful for!' We also learned as children that if a person feels that they have little to be thankful for in this life, they are less likely to be thankful for anything else that comes their way.
Sadly, for many of us, it is only the loss of something precious in our lives that makes us appreciate the gratitude we failed to give when we had it! Indeed, life itself can have the greatest impact on our futures whenever it reminds of its brevity and how close to death it often is. While I have always loved every minute of my life since childhood, it is only since I learned that I have a terminal illness that will shorten it, that has made me treasure every minute of it. No more do I care about the seasonal temperaments, whether the sun shines, or it snows, or rains, hails or storms; just as long I'm around to see it happening!
During the years between 1989-2005, apart from raising over £200,000 for charitable causes from the profits of my book sales, I learned something very important. I remembered my parents' words and realised that I could never have achieved any of my charitable work without the unstinting support, help and constant generosity of the community and their schools as a whole.When I eventually finished writing children's stories for schools, I wanted to make sure that I found a way of adequately 'thanking' them. Gratitude is a two-way process and if it only runs one way down any street, it is infinitely lessened in purpose.
Three acts of community giving I shall mention here to illustrate. During the 90's, some poor parents in Mirfield bought one of their daughters a brand new pink bicycle for Christmas (a story which later became 'Annie's Christmas Surprise' in my Omnibus of 'Action Annie' stories). The family house got burgled and the pink bicycle (which had been stored in the shed), got stolen the week before Christmas. The young girl was heartbroken until I persuaded a local cycle shop to donate a pink bicycle to the girl in question the week before Christmas. The bicycle was given to her by 'Father Christmas' in a school assembly and I will never forget the look of gratitude and amazement on her face as she caressed its black saddle and rang its ding-a-ling bell.
My second illustration was a gift to the people of Falmouth in Jamaica (the old slave capital), that was funded by the whole of the Mirfield community on January 1st, 2000, when their thousands of £s paid for the printing, production and shipping of two thousand books of 'The Kilkenny Cat' to Falmouth. We did this so that the children of Falmouth could have their own special millennium gift from Mirfield folk that the Jamaicans could read and sell to raise vital school funds.The book was so well received, that it was later placed on the school curriculum of all thirty-two Falmouth schools, and it was also used in helping to promote my work with the Jamaican Minister for Youth and Education the following year in a trans-Atlantic pen-pal project between thirty-two Yorkshire schools and thirty-two Falmouth schools, where the aim was to acquaint oneself with different cultures, beliefs and lifestyles as well as reducing racism between the black and white pupil.
My final illustration of gratitude occurred after I decided to put up my pen in the early 2000's. I wanted to say 'thank you' to all of the Yorkshire schools who had bought my books for their pupils for over 14 years and who had been primarily responsible for raising a large part of the £200,000 for charitable causes. So, instead of selling them my last book I wrote for children, I used my last publication of 'The Kilkenny Cat Trilogy' as a present which each school was given as a gift. This was a gesture of £42 per school and it was stimulated by my mother's words of, 'Billy, when folk have treated you well, always say thank you properly!'
So, wherever one finds all manner of good and praises it, there, one's flag of eternal gratitude is planted in the soil of appreciation. Finally, never forget that the highest form of gratitude one can ever express is being happy with being alive today!" William Forde: March 8th, 2017.
