Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink...

In honor of World Water Day, I've decided to do a post on gratitude since the abundance of clean water we have should make those of us in the West extremely grateful we live here.

Aussie web news site The Mosman Daily profiled 94 year-old Anne Parcell. The grandmother of five is completely independent and even drives to her local nursing home to visit the residents there. Parcell began her volunteering back in 1955 as a social hostess before moving on to work with the blind and deaf, the homeless and the Red Cross. A quote from the story notes she is grateful for her volunteer work as it gives her a "new lease on life." Some of us nearly three-quarters her age should be shamed by that.

As math has never been my strong suit, I won't even try to figure out the fraction of Anne Parcell's age represented by the middle school students in the following Tampa Bay Online article. As part of Lenten festivities, Catholic school students in sixth and eighth grades participated in Operation Rice Bowl. Catholic Charities organizes this every year: Instead of a regular meal, substitute a meat-less meal and donate what you would have spent on the regular meal to Operation Rice Bowl. And the lesson is not lost on the pre- and teenagers: student Jodie Anderson said, "I'm eating this meal for lunch today, and it may not be much, but at least I know I'll have a regular meal for dinner tonight. Other kids won't be so lucky. I've learned not to take what I have for granted."

In professional sports, you tend to see an even split between spoiled athletes and grateful ones. However, as Yahoo! reported, former New Orleans Saint Scott Fujita just scored one for Team Grateful. Traded to the Cleveland Browns after winning the Superbowl, Fujita donated half his championship check to Haitian relief efforts and to coastal restoration in New Orleans. He and his family wanted to "protect" the city and residents they cared so much about.

(Photo courtesy of Yahoo! Sports)

Er, happy Holocaust Remembrance Day?...

It seems wrong to wish someone well for a day that reflects on the epic tragedy when millions of lives were extinguished. But it's an important day. People need to remember what occurred so it doesn't happen again.

My friend Michelle sent me a link to an article from the English version of Der Spiegel, a German news magazine. Esther Bejarano survived Auschwitz, where she was forced to play in a girls' orchestra as people destined for the gas chamber arrived on the trains. Bejarano escaped on a death march, filled the rest of her life with music and spent the majority of her adult life speaking about the Holocaust. In the past, she collaborated with her two children on albums of Jewish and anti-fascist songs, but her latest creation is distinctly street. Bejarano teamed up with the Cologne-based Microphone Mafia (the children of Italian and Turkish families who emigrated to post-war Germany) to produce a hip hop album to combat the work of those who prefer to pretend the mass murder never occurred.

Bejarano's survival of the Holocaust is mirrored to a degree by that of Ena Zinzi, a 69 year-old woman pulled from the rubble of the earthquake in Haiti seven days after it struck. The woman survived untenable conditions, and her first words to her South African rescuer Ahmed Bham upon reaching sunlight were "Je t'aime". According to those around Bham Zinzi, she then began singing a song of praise. The South African Gift of Givers group had partnered with a Mexican rescue group after a dog scented Zinzi among the debris. Bham had helped with the rescue efforts in Pakistan two years ago when an earthquake there resulted in thousands dead, according to the newspaper The Hindu. He went on to describe Haiti as "much, much worse," and thus seemed all the more grateful to find Zinzi alive.

(Photo courtesy of Der Spiegel)

Age ain't nuthin' but a number...

My roommate got "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" from Netflix the other day. I read the original story on Project Gutenberg, and the premise of a man aging backwards intrigued me. It does seem a little unfair that the simplest and sometimes easiest parts of life are when you're too young to appreciate them, and when you've finally earned the right to relax, you have health problems and other issues that aren't fun. 

Thankfully, today's stories all refuse to conform to that standard.

The New York Daily News posted a story on Marty Alvey, a 90 year-old great-great grandfather, who suddenly got his sight back after being declared legally blind for many years. Doctors are at a loss to explain what happened, but Alvey is treasuring the chance to look at photos of his family and say hi to friends and neighbors. I love his quote at the very end of the story - so dear. 

Alvey's overwhelming appreciation for getting his sight back and all the little things that come with that is certainly an example of this next article. Studies released by the American Psychological Association has shown that happiness and mental health improve with time. According to a US News article, older adults are better able to limit negative influences and are less likely to let negative comments affect them, thus limiting stressful situations. 

South Carolinian Solomon Jackson, Jr. will likely not have to worry about negativity. The 63 year-old retired state employee recently won a $260M Powerball jackpot, according to Yahoo! News. Beating the odds of 1 in 195 million, Jackson has won the largest jackpot won by a ticket bought in South Carolina. Despite now being very, very, very rich, Jackson seems to fit right in with the spirit of the previous two articles - happy, healthy, humble and enjoying his life. 

(Photo courtesy of Yahoo!)