Online Newsletter | Fall 2013 | Page 5

What we ?abby would-be appreciators need is something to get us up and moving— something to make us truly thankful. What better place to start than where we are and what we are standing upon. Dirt. Forget the United States of America, DIRT is the Great Melting Pot. Branches, banana peels, coffee grounds, much-loved and newly-deceased pets—they are all the ingredients of soil. Once fallen, microbes, bacteria and invertebrates get to work breaking down the molecules that once made up all those leaves, ?bers and fur and, voila!—a rich melange is created that has the nutritional umph to grow everything from salad greens to Sitka spruces. It’s a miracle, really. Thank God for dirt! And that’s just what’s under our feet. Once you get started, the world suddenly becomes a veritable jungle gym of miracles on which to ?ex your gratitude muscles. There’s air. And trees. And small woodland creatures. All amazing in their own unique ways—all somehow integral to health and the sustenance of life on earth And so we respond: Thank you, thank you, thank you! And then we pause. And consider that once the inertia of indifference has been overcome and the momentum of gratitude sets in, the natural extension of all this thankfulness is responsibility. As the goodness of the gi gG2?bF??0???R&V6??W2V'F?&P?fV?B?B&V6V?fVBvR??fRg&???6R?`?F???gV??W72F?7F????&V6?v???rF?@?F?Rv?fW"?bF?W6Rv?gG2?2V??7FVBW20?6??7FWv&G26?F?BF?W6Rv?gG2?v?B&P?&W6W'fVBf?"?F?W"V??R???G2?@????F??F?V??????F??B??R????W"??WF'?F??v??F??r??&?6??2WBF?vWF?W"6??R?V?gV??&W6?W&6W2F?B&R6??6?gV??b?FV2?@?&??V7G2F?Bv???V?&?R??RF?WB??W ??Wv?7G&V?wF?V?VBw&F?GVFR?W66?W2F??&?GV7F?fRW6R?6?6??W&RF??V&???rF??&7F?6???B&?GV7F?fV?6&Rf?"7&VF??????W"???R?'W6??W72?B6?W&6???v??FV??v???6?6?F??tD4????&??R?B?V???7F????f?V?FW'2?b&?6?6?F( ?0?f?'7Bf?V?B7GVG?6V?G&R??7W'&W???$2?F?67W72v?N( ?27F?'??`?&V6??6??F????b??F???w2?B??p?&?6??2'B?bF?B7F?'???????R?77VRf??#0?&?6??6??P???