If A Fellow Isn’t Thankful For What He’s Got

by | Nov 24, 2010 | Frank A. Clark, Gratitude - 2010/2011 | 2 comments

Thank goodness today is day #3 of Gratitude Week at The Napkin Dad Daily

I ran the Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa this past Sunday.  I didn’t do well during most of the race.  It wasn’t anything about training, nutrition, hydration,  race day preparation or even my time (which was bad) that makes me say that.

It was my attitude. I started out with a mess up finding the people I was going to run with.  It was crowded and I was alone, no running buddies.   My legs were sluggish to start.  My attitude wasn’t infused with thankfulness or love, it was infused with bother.  I was bothered by walkers. I was bothered by gatorade spilling on my hands. I was bothered by music bands along the way.  I was bothered by my inability to get my body in gear to keep at the pace I wanted.

Two things changed that.  At mile 21 I finally met up with two of the runners I was going to run with.  They were both stopped and in great pain.  One had to keep walking, the other started running with me.  She had injured her knee half-way through and was crying.  We kept plugging along for the next 5 miles, running, walking, running as best we could.  I was beat, she was even more beat. But she kept going with me.  All my bother melted away and I was only thinking about getting us both over the finish line.  And we made it together.

The other thing?  A young man, 27 years old, had collapsed and died on the 1/2 marathon route.  Need I say more?  Nothing changes an attitude quicker than realizing the old adage ‘There but for the grace of God go I’.  I have lived twice as long as he did. I have had marriages, children, love, travel, pleasure, pain, great friends and family. Many of these things are lost to him now and forever. 

It was a sobering reminder that my attitude, as long as I am alive, should continually strive to be at, or move towards gratitude, thankfulness and love.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman

Quote by Frank A. Clark, 1911-1991, American Pastor and Aphorist

Finding a Path – updated 2018

by | Apr 30, 2010 | Frank A. Clark | 0 comments

The good new is, if you want an easy path for a walk, you can find one.  If you want an easy path to lunch or dinner you can find one.  But it is not likely, nor desirable, to find and walk an easy path in life.

I had a friend once who was 45 years old when the first bad thing ever happened to her.  She found out her husband was a crack addict and she had to start divorce proceedings for the health and safety of her family.

I remember how shocked she was that it had happened.  She really had no idea that most people are extremely lucky if they get to age 45 without a big negative in their life.  The easy path she had been on really hadn’t prepared her well for this event in life.  But this event did cause the upheaval that made her get a job, one that has been a life changer for her.  It also led to a new marriage, one that opened up her life to amazing new possibilities.  

None of this means I think she should have had a harder life. On the contrary, I am happy she had a wonderful, positive life with no negatives for as long as she did. It is simply the exception that proves the rule in my mind. That rule is that eventually the path you struggle on will be the one that leads you the farthest.

What hard path taught you the most in life?

Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman

“If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” – Frank A. Clark