Perceptions: Grateful, not gloomy

Everywhere I go, I am blasted with gloom. The fiscal cliff, incompetent politicians, businesses going under, hurricanes, sex scandals and a hundred other events leave me with the impres-

sion that the world has come off its hinges. It is easy to forget how much there is to be grateful for.

This week, G.K. Chesterton sparked my imagination. He wrote, "Children are grateful when Santa Claus puts in their stockings gifts of toys or sweets. Could I not be grateful to Santa Claus when he put in my stockings the gift of two miraculous legs?"

My legs have fascinated me all week — not because they are much to look at, but because Chesterton had it right: they are miracles. I have taken to calling them my enchanted walking sticks. They anticipate my will, taking me where I want to go without being told. No sorcerer's spell could effect such a triumph of magic.

Eyes, ears, taste and touch are similar miracles. Family and friends are another universe of blessing. And do not get me started on the wonders of nature.

We tell people to look at the glass as half full rather than half empty. The metaphor is proof that we are blind as bats. If we saw clearly, we would tell people to focus on the 99 percent of the glass that is full rather than the one percent that is empty.

There are even gifts in this life that nothing can take from us. These take faith to see. When we love and are loved, we lay up treasure where moths and rust and even death cannot touch them.

Sounds preposterous? No more so than the enchanted walking sticks.