In his poem “A Song To Myself”, Walt Whitman teaches us a valuable lesson. In life we take many things for granted. Sometimes we need to pause for a moment and open our eyes to the many amazing things around us and to the miracles that are taking place on a constant basis. Whitman writes “I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars… And the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery.” Here he is displaying his appreciation for the things that we usually take for granted in the world and is saying that even such a simple thing like a blade of grass is just as complex and deserves as much appreciation as the stars do. He also tells us that if we think that machinery is complex and deserves appreciation, if we would just stop and look at our own bodies that even a small hinge in our hands is much more complicated and fascinating machinery than any man made machinery out there.
To me it is an important lesson that we can learn from Walt Whitman’s poem. We take so many things for granted and we get so used to things that we stop appreciating them, and this happens with many different things and areas in our life, including people. For example, a child doesn’t realize how much his or her parents do for them, the child just takes them for granted. A person should wake up every morning and think for a minute about all of the privileges that they have in life, and their are endless. A good start would be being thankful for your bodily abilities. Every morning when I wake up I thank God for my ability to do different things such as see, breathe and even to be able to use the restroom. It reminds me that these are gifts that we have and we should not take them for granted, and this way we will appreciate everything in life a lot more.
I agree with your opinion that many of us take things for granted, especially in our generation. In a place like New York City, everyone and everything moves at such a fast pace that we forget to slow down and take the time to appreciate the little things in life, like you mentioned “a blade of grass.” I feel like here especially in the United States, we only talk about what we are thankful for when Thanksgiving is around, but why should we only show appreciation once a year? I think more people should reflect on the things they are grateful for more often and maybe say thanks every once in a while to their loved ones whether it be a parent or a friend.
I completely agree with you that in general people and myself included forget to realize how many great things we have in our lives. Not only that but all the beuaty that is around us. Sometimes you just need to take a minute to be in tune with the world within and around yourself.