Birthday Reflections – Thankfulness (The Third of Three Reflections)

Recently I was honored by my Temple community,
and I am thankful for the honor and the recognition,
for who would not be.

Yet, the greatest part of the honor was the opportunity
to publicly express my love and thankfulness
for my family and for the life that I have been given.

We each are thrust into this world
at a certain (or perhaps uncertain) time and place, and
from there we are expected to make the best of what we have.

Though we often hear that our lives are in our hands and
that each person has an equal opportunity,
I do not believe that to be the case
for we each have different starting points, different abilities, different benefits and detriments.

So perhaps all that can be expected is that
we each do the best with what we have
in a world that is neither fair not level.

I can only hope that I have done my best
to do well with what I have been given, and
that my life will have done a minimal of harm and,
if I am lucky that my life will have been for some good