GRATITUDE

When was that summer when the sky was blue and it never rained?

Paul McCartney of Beatles fame sings these thoughts in his album, Memory Almost Full. In a lovely song called Gratitude, McCartney’s voice and the accompanying voices and instruments soar. He sings: “I’m so grateful for everything you’ve ever given me. How can I explain what it means to be loved by you? I want to show my gratitude, to be loved by you.

“Well, I was lonely, I was living with a memory, but my cold and lonely nights ended when you sheltered me, loved by you. I was loved by you, yeah, I was loved by you.”

Mother Teresa of Calcutta said the worst illness on earth was loneliness. She was right.

So gratitude for friendship and love between us –- lovers, husbands and wives, parents and children-- are  a sine qua non. Everybody wants love back for love given. Life’s story.

As Paul McCartney sings in his song, House of Wax -- “At the end of the end, it's the start of a journey to a much better place, and this wasn't bad. So a much better place could have to be special. No need to be sad.

“On the day that I die, I'd like jokes to be told and stories of old to be rolled out like carpets that children have played on and laid on while listening to stories of old. At the end of the end, it's the start of a journey to a much better place, would have to be special, no reason to cry.

[McCartney whistles.]

“On the day that I die, I'd like bells to be rung and songs that were sung to be hung out like blankets that
lovers have played on and laid on while listening to songs that were sung. At the end of the end, It's the start of a journey to a much better place. And a much better place would have to be special, no reason to cry, no need to be sad at the end of the end.

“Lightening hits the house of wax, poets spill out on the street to set alight the incomplete remainders of the future hidden in the yard. Thunder drowns the trumpets blast, poets scatter through the night, but they can only dream of flight away from their confusion. Hidden in the yard, underneath the wall, buried deep below a thousand layers lay the answer to it all.

“Lightening hits the house of wax, women scream and run around to dance upon the battleground like wild demented horses. Hidden in the yard, underneath the wall, buried deep below a thousand layers lay the answer to it all.”

McCartney's album is brilliant, and his voice soars as always.

Then Chilean poet Pablo Neruda puts all in context in his lovely poem, Sonnet XVII, published in 1960:

“I don't love you as if you were the salt-rose, topaz or arrow of carnations that propagate fire. I love you
as certain dark things are loved, secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

“I love you as the plant that doesn't bloom and carries hidden within itself the light of those flowers, and thanks to your love, darkly in my body lives the dense fragrance that rises from the earth.

“I love you without knowing how or when or from where I love you simply, without problems or pride. I love you in this way because I don't know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.”

It is called unconditional love.

In this material secular age, is that possible any more? Are gratitude and unconditional love still recognized, taught, and accepted in our culture? You tell me.

The poet Robert Frost said, "Yes, of course, [this age] is materialistic, but the only way to counteract it is to create spiritual things. Don't worry yourself about the materialism too much. Create and stir other people to create."

Albert Einstein, epic scientist, said "The important thing is not to stop questioning."

The late President John F. Kennedy said, "Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."

Musician Leonard Cohen said, "There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in."

Indian's great philosopher-leader Mahatma Ghandi, said, "To lose patience is to lose the battle."

The Greek philosopher Plato said, "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

Eighteenth century British writer Nathaniel Hawthorne put it this way: "Happiness is a butterfly which when pursued is just out of grasp. But if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."

Aren't we all looking for a quiet moment outside in a serene space for a butterfly to light upon us and, in gratitude, bring us peace and love?

-- George Archibald was a national news reporter for The Washington Times from its first publication in May 1982 until September 2005, when he retired as senior investigative reporter, having been nominated four times by the newspaper for the Pulitzer Prize in journalism. He has written a book, “Journalism is
War,” awaiting publication, teaches journalism courses at various colleges around the country, and is writing other books from his home in Middleburg, Virginia.