Achaean News
On Gratitude
Written by: Shooting Star Taelle Si'Talvace, the One Who Dares
Date: Thursday, November 25th, 2021
Addressed to: Everyone
Dear Everyone:
Today, as the turning of the Vault brings us closer and closer to Logosmas, I find myself ruminating (for no particular reason) on the subject of gratitude. What does it mean to be thankful? Why is it we are told to appreciate that which we have, when there is so much going wrong, so much conflict and violence and suffering in the world? Why must some of us dig and scrape for grains of gratitude while others can casually take for granted the very things others desire or need?
I don't know. "Why" is a question whose answers fork like its phonetic namesake. There are as many answers to "why" as there are stars in the sky. And I find myself thinking that perhaps this is not the right question to ask. Better, then, is the question: how do we learn to live gratefully?
Gratitude is not a result, but a state of mind. It is the practice of giving thanks for all that life is and is not. It is the art of finding reason for thanks in a thankless world. And like many other practices in mindfulness, it is a selfish endeavour, yet wholly genuine and, I believe, important to each and every one of us who wishes to grow as a person.
Gratitude can be given for many things. Just as Lady Selene taught us to see Beauty in all things, so too can gratitude be found in suffering and despair, not by focusing solely on what light can brighten the darkness, but by seeing the darkness for what it truly is: an opportunity to strive to live better, to live fully and well.
And so, it is with gratitude in my heart that I reach out to all of Sapience, to those against whom I draw my blade and against those whose shoulders I stand beside and say: thank you. I am grateful to share this world with you. A hundred years ago, I could not have imagined that I would be the person I am today, and much of that is because of you. For good, ill, and otherwise, I say, simply--thank you.
We may disagree. We may fight. We may laugh and sing and cheer together. We may war together, mourn together, and mend together. We may be apart in mindset and in flesh, but I say that we are together in spirit. For all those experiences that are gained by coming together and clashing together, I am grateful to you, and I hope eternally that we may one day all be able to work together to build a world for which all may be grateful.
Gratefully,
Taelle Si'Talvace
Penned by my hand on the 3rd of Ero, in the year 874 AF.
On Gratitude
Written by: Shooting Star Taelle Si'Talvace, the One Who Dares
Date: Thursday, November 25th, 2021
Addressed to: Everyone
Dear Everyone:
Today, as the turning of the Vault brings us closer and closer to Logosmas, I find myself ruminating (for no particular reason) on the subject of gratitude. What does it mean to be thankful? Why is it we are told to appreciate that which we have, when there is so much going wrong, so much conflict and violence and suffering in the world? Why must some of us dig and scrape for grains of gratitude while others can casually take for granted the very things others desire or need?
I don't know. "Why" is a question whose answers fork like its phonetic namesake. There are as many answers to "why" as there are stars in the sky. And I find myself thinking that perhaps this is not the right question to ask. Better, then, is the question: how do we learn to live gratefully?
Gratitude is not a result, but a state of mind. It is the practice of giving thanks for all that life is and is not. It is the art of finding reason for thanks in a thankless world. And like many other practices in mindfulness, it is a selfish endeavour, yet wholly genuine and, I believe, important to each and every one of us who wishes to grow as a person.
Gratitude can be given for many things. Just as Lady Selene taught us to see Beauty in all things, so too can gratitude be found in suffering and despair, not by focusing solely on what light can brighten the darkness, but by seeing the darkness for what it truly is: an opportunity to strive to live better, to live fully and well.
And so, it is with gratitude in my heart that I reach out to all of Sapience, to those against whom I draw my blade and against those whose shoulders I stand beside and say: thank you. I am grateful to share this world with you. A hundred years ago, I could not have imagined that I would be the person I am today, and much of that is because of you. For good, ill, and otherwise, I say, simply--thank you.
We may disagree. We may fight. We may laugh and sing and cheer together. We may war together, mourn together, and mend together. We may be apart in mindset and in flesh, but I say that we are together in spirit. For all those experiences that are gained by coming together and clashing together, I am grateful to you, and I hope eternally that we may one day all be able to work together to build a world for which all may be grateful.
Gratefully,
Taelle Si'Talvace
Penned by my hand on the 3rd of Ero, in the year 874 AF.