Gratitude: the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness. So often we pay attention only to the first part, yet we forget about the aspect of returning kindness. Many times, we hear the same cliche phrases such as “have an attitude of gratitude”, “thankful, grateful, blessed” and “give thanks”, but do we actually understand the meaning of it?
Mrs. Hoke took gratefulness to a deeper level, believing that “gratefulness is having an attitude of appreciating the grace and goodness of life and people around you.” Gratefulness isn’t just a word or idea, but it’s an attitude we can live in daily. There are so many misconceptions of gratefulness during the Thanksgiving season, and it can feel like gratefulness is “artificial, or fluffy, but actually cultivating gratitude is important.” The way we speak, act and where our attitudes are can greatly affect our personal views of gratitude. “Words create worlds” is something that Mrs. Hoke constantly reminds herself and others around her. You have the authority and power to create an atmosphere of gratefulness so how can you do that this Thanksgiving season? Gratefulness isn’t just a word, but it is an action.
There is a special way that we as students can spread gratitude to those around us and that is with the appreciation station located right outside of Mrs. Shelford’s office. You can grab an appreciation card and write a note to a student or faculty member of your choice, and it will be delivered to them in their second block.