Today I am Thankful

Today I am thankful for all of the people whose shoulders we now stand on. Some for the better, some for the worse, but all of them bring us to the world we now know. A world divided: a perfect juxtaposition between all things good and all things terrible.

A few years ago I was talking with a good friend of mine about my parents' divorce. We talked about the ways in which the divorce made me who I am, about all of the negative and the positive. Yes, even in this terrible event that happened in my life, there is positive. At the end of the conversation, he asked me if I could go back and live my life without the divorce if I would. I answered that I couldn't, because the divorce set my life into the path which it took, and without the divorce; without that path, I would not be me.

If we looked back and took the good, and not the bad we would not be us. The world is not what it should be. Evil should not be allowed to prevail, and it is tragic that it does. However, the world we live in is beautiful. People are evil, but people love. People are ugly, but people are beautiful. Our past is terrible, but our past is good.

Today I am thankful for EVERYTHING that has brought me to where I am. The falls and the triumphs. I encourage you to think harder this year on this day of thanks. Think deeper this year, and consider what you take for granted; or even deeper, think of the things that you have looked upon with a bad taste in your mouth, and ask yourself if you can find a way to be thankful for those moments.

Today I am thankful for YOU.

Love and blessings.

-Ben

A Storm Past, A Storm to Come.

I sat there in a stall in the men's room: the only place on the planet where nobody else would join me; the only place where the filth on the floor made me feel at home. Was that the best I could have done? Regardless, that was the best I did. What does that say about me? My head in my hands, no tears, just pure disappointment. Had I only started sooner. Had I only worked harder.

I had disappointed some of the most inspiring people I had ever met. Some of the people I cared most about at that moment. People invested in me and I let them down.

That was the worst moment of my life.

Every day I get a choice. Am I busy? of course. Am I tired? ...still. Am I depressed? sometimes.

Do I still get my choice? Absolutely.

Every day I get a choice, whether I am going to be the best I can possibly be on that day or not. That is the choice. Every morning, from the moment my alarm clock rings I toe the line of another day. This day brings a new challenge, but as I toe this line I am offered the same choice I was yesterday. Do I choose to be the best I possibly can, or do I choose to be the other?

It's that simple too. There is no middle ground. Not for me, at least. If I choose to be anything less than the best that I can be, I am choosing mediocrity, and that is the biggest let down I can give to myself and everyone around me.

The week before I sat in that stall I had plenty of times to make a better choice. The month before... the year before. I came up short because I chose to.

I never want to sit there again and see the filth on the floor as my equal.

Monday I choose.

Tuesday I choose.

Wednesday I choose,

Thursday I choose.

Friday I choose.

Saturday I choose.

Sunday I choose.

That storm is past. Bring on the next.