How to Escape Poverty: Gratitude
My brothers and I spent a lot of time during our teen years talking about our dreams and aspirations when we became adults.
At an early age I decided that I would become an attorney. My older brother, Bracy, wanted to own a used car lot. His idea was to buy old cars, refurbish them, and sell them at a nice profit. Steve wanted to be a regional or national sales manager for a large retail store or fast food chain.
My younger brother Rick was still very young and seemed content to hang out with his older brothers. Whenever we talked about making plans for the future, it appeared to me that Rick was not yet at the stage in life when planning for the future is a priority.
The one common theme we all shared in our daily lives, however, was that we were all grateful to finally be out of the housing projects. We talked a lot about gratitude. Looking back on our days growing up in poverty, we recalled the many encounters with street toughs who had no respect for anyone, nor gratitude for things other people did to help them.
When I was seventeen I made the mistake of saying hello to one of those street toughs. Without provaction I was hit with an upper cut and then sliced across the chest and wrist with a hawk-beak knife.
When I was 22 years old, my brothers and I shared an apartment together in in Atlanta, GA—we were roommates. After a year or so, as the memories of the housing projects began to fade, I noticed a change in my brother’s attitudes.
They seemed to take a lot of things for granted, such as our lifesyle and the fact that our jobs were a key reason for that. I made the mistake of telling my brothers they should never take our lifestyle for granted—that we have to earn it every single day.
My brothers expressed resentment that I was trying to run their lives. It was at that moment that I made the decision to find a one bedroom apartment and move out on my own. I didn’t want to interfere in their lives anymore than I wanted them to interfere in mine.
As I look back on those days, and knowing now how their lives turned out after I moved out, it brings sadness that I couldn’t have found a way to more positively influence the outcome. But gratitude isn’t something that you can give to someone, nor is it something you can buy. Gratitude is an emotional feeling that is grounded in religious faith.
The link between religious faith and gratitude is inescapable. While these two characteristics are certainly not dependent upon each other, there is no doubt that religious faith is capable of enhancing a person’s ability to be grateful.
My grandmother once said to me that gratitude is prayer itself. Without gratitude we lose our bearings and stray away from our core values. I would take it a step further and argue that without gratitude, failure is inevitable.
My brothers and I have very similar personalities. We enjoyed laughing and we enjoyed each other’s company. We parted ways was on the issue of gratitude. I wanted more out of life, which meant I had to move forward, not backwards. I was grateful to have a good job, therefore I did not allow anyone or anything to put that job in jeopardy.
My brothers seemed to believe that there were plenty of jobs available and that there was nothing wrong with quitting a job whenever they felt like it. What I observed, and they apparently did not see, was that each subsequent job paid less, and involved lower level responsibilities than the one they had before.
Gentleness is the sort of kindness which accumulates when a person is grateful. People around you notice that behavior and they are drawn to you beccause of it. If a person is grateful for every inch of progress on the scale of success, and if they continue to express appreciation for the opportunities they have now, then more successes are likely to follow.
A person can’t waste their adolescent and early adult years doing whatever feels good, and then, after the age of forty, suddenly decide that it is possible to change behavior and become an instant success. That kind of stuff only happens in a fantasy world, unless you are lucky enough to win the lottery.
Sadly, my brothers ended up backsliding into poverty and remained there for the rest of their lives.
I have always believed that a lack of gratitude is one of the key reasons people fail in life. If someone today asks me how to escape poverty, I tell them to stay true with their character, and above all things be grateful for every accomplishment.
The YouTube song below is a Christian song: It’s called Yielded Vessel:
