MOG #102: 30 Little Smiles

This week's post comes from our friend Andrea. She sent it to me last Wednesday and I've been waiting all week to post it. However, I don't think I can post this article without mentioning Elijah Marsh- the 3 year old boy from Toronto who escaped from his apartment into the tremendously freezing temperatures in the middle of the night and froze to death. You can read about it here.

Elijah's story stands both on it's own and ties in well with Andrea's connection about life, death, love and ultimately, gratitude.

So let me start this off plain and simple, a little frank if you will - someone died.  Not someone I knew, not even a friend of someone I knew well, in fact I'm not even sure how well they knew the person. But the fact of the matter is that someone died, someone's family is reeling, someone's young life is over, in an instance everything has changed in so many people's worlds and yet here we are, working, whining, worrying.

This morning as I expressed my condolences to this person who's friend had passed away, I stopped to look around to see if I could muster up something positive to say to her, something encouraging in that moment, and I was lucky enough to see about 30 children playing on a snowbank. 30 children laughing, fighting, playing, smiling. 30 fresh new lives just barely getting off the ground, just starting to learn about life. Today they will go to school, learn something absolutely useless, they'll go on a field trip, and they'll make a new friend.

At that moment I turned to see coworkers who are truly incredible, caring individuals that have come to be my friends. I saw so much happiness, that in that moment, right there - I was so thankful. It may have taken a sad awakening to just pause and see it but it was such a beautiful moment and it's so wonderful to live a life where I can press pause, look around and be fortunate enough to see smiling faces EVERY SINGLE DAY.

MOG #101: For Wade

This MOG is a little different, but really, they’re all a little different, and that’s the point.

Earlier today I was introduced to this article through school as it was an exemplar of persuasion writing that held rhetorical devices to communication meaning and merit. The topic of the article is mental health, so the blending of these two worlds is a nice way to stay cross-cultural.

Today I read the story of NHL defensemen and forward, Wade Belak, though the eyes of well-known TSN reporter Michael Landsberg (@heylandsberg).


Here's the link to the article 

(http://leftbehindbysuicide.org/blog/landsberg-his-depression-and-his-friend-wade-belak/) 

Here are my MOG thoughts on it: 

I’ve never been a sports fan. I can appreciate the appreciation, but words like “striking and fielding”, “drills” and “strategy” don’t quite resonate with me the same way words like “quite” or “resonate” do. But for once I feel like I can understand some realm of sports through an avenue I continually walk down- that of mental health. 

One rhetorical device used in this article is that of the sentence fragment, which by definition means an incomplete thought with a lost meaning. I think that’s like when you perform a movement in sports but you don’t necessarily follow through. Whichever realm, there’s a disconnect because something hasn’t been brought together. 

Today I thought about sentence fragments and how that rhetorical device is really an isolated moment itself. Maybe we’re all just a bunch of life fragments, brought together by a common thread of this time line called the present moment. Maybe we together we can make a paragraph. 
Then an essay. 
Perhaps, a novel. 

And how lucky we are to contribute to it all.

It's not about how often you contribute or what last name you sign at the bottom- rather it's what you contribute that makes the page full, or the move compete, or the message delivered. 

Tonight, I’m grateful for the person who brought this text to my attention and the structure under which this text was studied. Further, I'm grateful to this writer who so graciously speaks on behalf of a friend in both a heartfelt and educational way, not to make a spectacle, but to bring forth awareness, dignity and love to a widely criticized issue. Lastly, I feel grateful to witness, once again, what can happen when we take the “I” out of “illness” and replace it with a “We” to create “Wellness”. 

MOG #100: Pay kindness forward

This post comes from our friend Ange, who I've known since grade 1 and thank goodness for social media and being able to connect again. She posted this status a few days ago and we decided this would be a good thing to put on the blog.

My friend Sarah and I just finished having lunch and a stranger sitting across from us asked the waitress how many people were working. She and she said 9.  Moments later he took his wallet out and gave $20 for each employee "just because...".

Sar and I paid for our bills and minutes later the man asked us how much our bill costed us. We said it had already been paid and we were just about to leave. He took his wallet out and gave us $20 each! We attempted to refuse the money, but he insisted that it would make his day if we took it.

He told us to enjoy life, be happy and to pay it forward. We were both speechless!! What a sweet, generous and kind man. God bless his heart!!!!  He truly showed us we all need to be more kind to one another and pay it forward, however we can. 

MOG #99: The littles

This week's MOG will be a little different: instead of one post from one contributor, I have four little MOGS that I will affectionately refer to as the littles. The title speaks for itself but here's the big idea: we don't need to write huge posts about gratitude to understand it, we just have to recognize it and document it, taking whatever form it needs. Enjoy!

(From a colleague) I walked into an education conference today and someone came in after me announcing someone's headlights were on. Guess what, they were mine! So grateful for that guy! My day is already going to be dreadful and calling CAA at the end of the day would of been unbearable!

(From a friend) The other day I sat down to write you an MOG, but instead I wrote some poetry for the first time in years. In a weird way the medium became the message of gratitude. Grateful for the inspiration to stay writing! 

(This one was overheard between friends) But really, I don't know how I would gotten through this year without you. How was your day? How are you feeling? 

(From me) I walked down the stairs today to see my mom and I take off our boots in the exact same way. This instance fit so well into my understanding of taking time to enjoy the little things. 

MOG #98: Heroes

This post was an anonymous comment left last week. To the person who wrote this: thank you for sharing your story. Your words will, undoubtedly, touch those who can relate, reach those who cannot, and make us all feel grateful for another day to be on this earth. 

     As if starting grade nine isn’t scary enough, finding out that your dad has prostate cancer at the same time, is a nightmare. I will never forget the sinking feeling in my stomach when my dad sat me down in our family room to break the terrible news. The look in his face was almost like he was ashamed, but I knew it was simply fear. I couldn’t even react; I went straight to my room and researched everything possible on prostate cancer, only to find out that it is the leading cause of male deaths. 

       Although the cancer was caught early and my dad was able to receive the proper treatment to reduce his risks of spreading, four years later, halfway through my first year at university, the cancer returned. I remember the moment he told me. He had just picked me up for the Christmas break and we were driving back home when he said it so casually, “the cancer is back.” It was as if it were no big deal, and I know that it was his way of avoiding emotions and pretending like nothing was wrong, but to me it was the end of the world.

       You never expect to grow up fearing that one day you will lose your best friend, your hero, and the man who raised you into who you are today. You especially don’t expect to be worrying about that at the age of 14. It’s been a constant presence in my mind since the day my parents first told me, and although he now has only one doctor’s appointment standing in the way of being deemed cancer free, the fear will never fade.    

      It amazes me how positive and happy my dad has always been, despite all of the obstacles that have been thrown in his path. Even if he is scared and afraid, he never shows it. It’s as if I am the one dealing with cancer and he is the one being my support system. I am constantly shocked and inspired at the man he is and I have never been so grateful to have such a wonderful and constant presence in my life. This man has dealt with more than I could ever imagine, yet he manages to be so full of life and joy. I will forever look up to my dad and have learned never to take a day for granted because you never know what life is going to throw at you. It is these people in our lives that make the biggest difference without even realizing it, and he will be my hero forever and always.