It’s easy to express gratitude this time of year. For those of us who live in the US, we call it Thanksgiving. My guess is that all cultures around the world celebrate gratitude in some fashion or another. Maybe not at this time of year, but at least at some point on the calendar.
I’ve written about gratitude before. A couple of years ago at this time, I noted that “I think gratitude may be the most important of all human virtues.” I went on to say that “…it is also one of the most underappreciated.” I still think the importance of gratitude is underappreciated.
It’s easy to express gratitude and to feel thankful for a short period of time. Anyone can do it. The challenge is to feel thankful every single day. Thankful for simple things like clean water, breathable air, a full stomach, and a warm shelter on a cold day. It’s not easy. Personally, I struggle to sustain a sense of gratitude even though I know how important it is. But then I look around and I see many reminders that these basic things are not always there for us, even in a culture as advanced as my own. Poverty, floods, ash falling from wildfires, lack of opportunity, poor health. I don’t suffer any of these maladies. I’m grateful. I need to remind myself of that every day. I hope the same holds for you, regardless of the town, city, state, country, or culture you inhabit. Imagine a world where everyone exemplifies the virtues of gratitude each and every day!
I also hope you’re not yet tired of images from the swamp because here is another. This one is a panorama comprised of four individual handheld frames, each shot in landscape orientation at 1/320 sec, f/8, and ISO 800. I love, love, love the warm colors of the trees in the sunlit background along with the cool tones of the foreground trees still enshrouded in shade. And the mist on the surface of the water? I call that the icing on the cake!
Thanks for taking the time to stop by occasionally and to enjoy my photography. My fondest hope with my art is that it somehow provides an occasional reminder of things on this planet for which we can be grateful. Let’s all remember to be grateful every day, not just on Thanksgiving!
Steve Zigler Photography 