Repsonse

Appreciation

            The definition of appreciation is gratitude; thankful recognition. I feel strongly about appreciation in the sense that when I see somebody commit a selfless act in order to help another person, it warms my heart and I feel like they should be recognized for their good act and be thanked. They do not need to be thanked by the person they helped, rather thanked by anybody to let them know that what they have done is rare and often unrecognized. I’ve been in the position before where I have been thanked for something I have done and it was a great feeling, knowing that I made somebody’s day by helping carry in groceries, or holding the door, or even just saying “You look really pretty today”.

            Appreciation to me is more than helping someone out. Sometimes it can just be the love and/or friendship of another person, animal, place, or thing. I enjoy seeing someone really appreciate someone or something, because not everybody does and someday that person, animal, place, or thing will not be there and that person or thing will leave us feeling unappreciated. Then, we wish we had it back so we could appreciate it.

            I try to appreciate many things in my life. I appreciate the big things as well as the small things because I would miss the small things as much as I would miss the big things. The big things would include things such as my beautiful girlfriend, my broken family, and my crippling vehicle. It would be hard not to appreciate these things. My girlfriend has made such a humungous impact on my life to the point where I don’t know where I would be without her. My family is crazy, broken up, loud, annoying, stressful, and everything in between but I do still love them. I still let my dad and my sister know how much I value them. My dad has made the biggest impact on my life molding my thought processes and morals as I was growing up, wanting me to be a responsible and respectful adult. I appreciate the fact that he raised me the way he did so I could be the way I am today.

            I try to appreciate the small things as well. The small things would include running into kind people throughout my day, people that show a smile, share a laugh, open doors for others, even people who say “please” and “thank you”. I see a lot of the small thing at my job. I work at Papa John’s pizza as a manager and sometimes working there on a hot, grueling, and blusterous Friday evening dinner rush is stressful. At some points in my year and a half there, I have wanted to just quit and walk out but one thing that relieves a good bit of that stress is somebody who is just so kind and polite that you can’t help but smile and thank them over and over. People who don’t mind waiting a few more minutes because they can tell that we are busier than busy, people who just seem happy to be alive and have an exuberant vibe protruding from them as they walk in, or simply people that say “Have a great night guys!” Those people make me incredibly thankful of having the job I have and getting to see these kind-hearted people almost everyday. I see customers holding the door for other customers, talking, and laughing with them and I love that because it creates a fun, happy environment for everybody.  I try to create that type of environment in hopes that all the positive energy will fight off any negative energy. While much of this world is disgusting and crude, many, many people I come into contact with everyday can still flash a smile and say hello and that makes my day.

            I appreciate my life. I appreciate the people that surround me. I appreciate the places and buildings that surround me. I appreciate the opportunities my friends, my family, and myself have. Sometimes I like to stop what I am doing and take a minute to think about one of my friends or family members and really think about how much I appreciate them in my life and how thankful I am that I know them. I think about any impacts they have made in my life, or any memories we have made together. I think about my girlfriend a lot because without her, I would most likely still be engulfing myself in marijuana smoke and getting in trouble with the police. I am not sure if I would have stuck with my online education and graduated for that or if I just would’ve settled for a GED. I don’t know if I would have the relationship that I have with my family. I don’t know if I’d be a manager at Papa John’s. I don’t know if I would be happy or depressed. What I do know is that I would not of gone back to my high school and achieved a 3.8 GPA. I would not have the rekindled friendship with my best buddy Liam. I would never of met my girlfriend’s mom, Isla. She has essentially taken the place of my mom considering that fact that my mom was too involved with drugs to be involved with her family. Isla is the one who pushes me to do well in school now that my girlfriend is at Ohio University. I appreciate Isla, I appreciate my family, my friendships, my school, my work, the opportunities, my car, my bed, my girlfriend Chelsea, and most of all, my life.  I encourage everybody to stop and find what or who he or she appreciates and let that be known, because it won’t always be there.