Things To Be Thankful For: Footpaths

Monday 24 October 2011

Footpaths

A Footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a thoroughfare intended for by pedestrians but not by motorized vehicles. The term is often for paths within an urban area that offer shorter quieter routes for pedestrians, they may also provide access to the surrounding countryside or parks. In some parts of the world the term 'footpath' is also used for longer Trails in more remote places.

How grateful I am for footpaths, especially on such a wet day like today.Before council's decided to create such concrete paving slabs as we have today, in the UK anyway, there were just muddy trails in which we would have got mucked up. Now we can walk virtually anywhere in the country on a great stone, tarmac or concrete pathway.

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Gracias

In his book entitled “Gracias,” Henri Nouwen talks about his experience in Peru and Bolivia, he writes: "The title of this (book) summarizes what I found, learned, and heard. The word that I kept hearing, wherever I went, was: Gracias! It sounded like the refrain from a long ballad of events. Gracias a usted, gracias a Dios, muchas gracias––thank you, thanks be to God, many thanks! I saw thousands of poor and hungry children, I met many young men and women without money, a job, or a decent place to live. I spent long hours with sick, elderly people, and I witnessed more misery and pain than ever before in my life. But, in the midst of it all, that word lifted me again and again to a new realm of seeing and hearing: 'Gracias! Thanks!”

"In many of the families I visited nothing was certain, nothing predictable, nothing totally safe. Maybe there would be food tomorrow, maybe there would be work tomorrow, maybe there would be peace tomorrow. Maybe, maybe not. But whatever is given––money, food, work, a handshake, a smile, a good word, or an embrace––is a reason to rejoice and say gracias. What I claim as a right, my friends in Bolivia and Peru received as a gift; what is obvious to me was a joyful surprise to them; what I take for granted, they celebrate in thanksgiving; what for me goes by unnoticed became for them a new occasion to say thanks.”

"And slowly I learned. I learned what I must have forgotten somewhere in my busy, well-planned, and very "useful" life. I learned that everything that is, is freely given by the God of love. All is grace. Light and water, shelter and food, work and free time, children, parents and grandparents, birth and death––it is all given to us. Why? So that we can say gracias, thanks: thanks to God, thanks to each other, thanks to all and everyone.”