#Gratitude and Acknowledgment

[taxideermied]

I hate being given accommodations that are not adequate and then being told I should be grateful for said accommodations because it’s “better than nothing.” What if I actually. Didn’t have to beg for you to bend your stupid inconsequential bureaucratic bylaws at all! You have devised a system that penalizes me for things outside of my control, I will not kiss your feet because you’ve made things fractionally easier for me while maintaining your status quo. Ugghhhghh

[overbearingstruggles]

@atltourconnect Aug24-Columbia

[pestorik]

of all the nice, funny, rude, cute, interesting, weird tags on the at designs, "thank you for your hard work op" really hit different :')

[habitat-restoryation]

Where We Stand

If you want to build a stronger connection to nature, your sense of place, and the land of you live on, it’s vital to know where you stand and the history of the people who live there.

And so, I want my blog to begin the same way. Before I post anything else, I want to take this time to recognize that I am writing from the ancestral homeland of the Haudenosaunee People, specifically the Onondaga Nation.

If you are from Upstate New York, you might be familiar with the story of the foundation of the Haudenosaunee League of Five Nations. (Also known as the Iroquois Confederacy; “Haudenosaunee” means people of the longhouse, while “Iroquois” is the name given to them by the French). The short version of the story goes like this: a long time ago, the five nations were stuck in a violent cycle of war and revenge. Hiawatha and the Peacemaker brought all the nations together with the message of the Great Law of Peace. They buried their weapons of war beneath the great White Pine tree. (This is where the saying “bury the hatchet” comes from). White Pine has five needles per bundle, just like the five nations in the Confederacy.

I learned this story in 4th grade when my class studied the “Iroqouis”. I also grew up visiting Onondaga Lake, which is not far from where I live. But it wasn’t until I was in college that I learned that this origin story took place AT Onondaga Lake.

Growing up, I learned the story of how Onondaga Lake became polluted, and the work that’s being done to restore it. I even volunteered to teach younger students about the lake. I thought I knew everything important about it.

But I didn’t know that the lake is sacred to the Onondaga people. I didn’t know its connection to this story of the formation of the oldest participatory democracy in the world. I didn’t know that the Great Tree of Peace is thought to have been on the shores of Onondaga Lake, probably near the spot where the mall parking lot is now, on the site of an old Onondaga village.

When we learn about our local environments, our homes, these are the kind of stories that should not get left out. It still boggles my mind to think that I went so long without knowing the significance of Onondaga Lake.

As a naturalist, writer, and environmental educator, I intend to do my best not to make the same mistake.

The Thanksgiving Address: The Words that Come Before All Else

The Haudenosaunee also start every meeting, gathering, and day of school with the Thanksgiving Address: The Words that Come Before All Else.

This is a recitation giving thanks for all parts of creation. The exact wording depends on the person. As Onondaga Clan Mother Frieda Jacques says in this video, it’s not a prayer, but a secular expression of gratitude. It’s also a taxonomy; it lists many of the major groups of organisms and aspects of the natural world.

As I welcome you all to my blog, I hope that this will become a gathering place where we can come together as a community to learn about nature and help each other grow as people at the same time.

I want to start this journey by taking a moment to express my gratitude for all the beings, creatures, and aspects of nature that we love and depend on. Ecology is a study of relationships. We all need each other in order to survive and thrive. Beyond that, I am so grateful to live in a world populated by millions of other types of creatures and millions of ways of knowing, both human and nonhuman; creatures we can learn about and “discover” and that fill our lives with wonder and joy.

As you read, I invite you to pause for a second on each member of the list. Observe what images pop into your head, or what emotions you feel. Think about your relationship to each aspect of nature, your connection to it, and how you rely on each other.

After each segment of the Thanksgiving Address, the words “And now our minds are one,” are repeated. Imagine what our society might be like if we learned from the Haudenosaunee and began every gathering by affirming our gratitude for the natural world, our commonality, and our interdependence.

We give thanks for:

The People

The Earth Mother

The Waters

The Fish

The Plants

The Food Plants

The Medicine Herbs

The Animals

The Trees

The Birds

The Four Winds

The Thunderers

The Sun

Grandmother Moon

The Stars

Our teachers

All the gifts of creation

Now our minds are one.

~~Comment and let me know: Who are the indigenous people of the land you live on? (If you don’t know, that’s ok, you can find out!). What in nature are you grateful for?

From the first blog post on my website, December 18 2020: https://www.rebeccarolnick.com/post/where-we-stand---the-thanksgiving-address-the-words-that-come-before-all-else

[tanicus-caesareth]

guarana drama, damage control

[flickering-fantasizer]

Tujhe toh pyaar ho gya hai pagli...

Haan ved , haan!

Par kisi aur se

[deliciousdietdrpepper]

It’s so strange to be experiencing life for the first time in a long time. Not in any exact way, but with the chronic pain stuff and depression stuff heavily abated by T and adhd meds, I feel more present for my life physically and mentally. I also feel more present with the people in my life. I hope I never stop trying to find ways to change for the better.

[zhuhongs]

im genuinely impressed with the progress I've made in such a short time since returning home from taiwan. 一年前的我 would honestly be so dumbfounded how all of this somehow happened all of a sudden. it feels like i finally put down something very heavy I've been carrying for decades unbeknownst to myself. perhaps this is what freedom feels like. Insane, genuinely insane.

[kadacher]

You deserve more

[classicintp]

Wanting to be acknowledged or praised for a good deed is not and has never been a bad or negative thing, but sometimes people act like ever expecting acknowledgement for your effort or generosity ultimately diminishes the value of the kindness to others. What can sometimes diminish that value is *always requiring* it, only ever putting forth the effort in return for being showered with praise and acknowledgement, and always refusing to help when you know there isn't likely going to be an opportunity for you or your image to benefit.

That isn't the same thing as feeling taken for granted or taken advantage of when you go out of your way to solve a problem, expending resources or effort (even if only emotional effort!), and everyone acts like that's what you were supposed to do or that's what's expected of you when it wasn't supposed to be or shouldn't have been an automatic expectation.

This is coming from someone who usually doesn't want that acknowledgment or praise (keyword: usually!), and yet I still have my experiences where it felt pretty fucked up that no one even gave a quick thumbs up in acknowledgement that they understood what I put myself through for their benefit. It isn't weird and your generosity or kindness isn't worth any less just because you wanted a thank you or for someone to acknowledge your effort.

[jynersq]

i’ve been in a real doom spiral lately about climate change and the fate of the human race and if anything means anything if we are all ultimately doomed by the narrative and why the fuck i keep getting up and pour my heart and soul out into a job that pays me pennies and constantly breaks my heart and makes me feel inadequate—

but.

today was my summer student’s last day in our lab, and she gave me the most heartfelt parting gifts i could have imagined: a silly mug, a four-pack of my favorite energy drink, a gift card, and two handwritten thank-you notes. she told me i was the best “big sister” and she was certain she had the best internship experience out of any of them. she told me how much it mattered to her that i cared about her experience over the past 10 weeks.

and it’s like. i don’t know, i don’t know, but tonight at least i’m more sure than i was this morning that the love human beings have for each other has to mean something, cosmically. when we care about each other it has lasting echoes. nothing lasts forever, but even if we’re all swept away in a giant flood next year or in 100 years, all the love has to go somewhere. it has to mark the landscape. i have to believe that.

[zenlien]

Sun-kissed raindrops: tiny thanks, vast joy.

Já parou para observar a dança das folhas em uma tarde ensolarada? Aquela sensação de paz que nos invade ao caminhar por um bosque, o frescor da brisa em nossa pele, o canto dos pássaros… São pequenas maravilhas que a natureza nos oferece diariamente, muitas vezes passando despercebidas em meio à correria do nosso cotidiano. Mas e se, por um instante, desacelerássemos e prestássemos atenção aos…

[wickedzeevyln]

Leaving Sunday

Brew Even as a granule, love crumbles and dissolves in the pool of ingratitude. No matter how freshly brewed a coffee is, it tastes stale; no matter how cordial the service, it is still met with a frown. Nothing is perfect against a disgruntled standard. While someone blabbers about an innocent mishap at a counter—a curious case of coffee being a little too lukewarm for the aficionado’s…

[themandalalady]

25-047 Acknowledge

[m4sc4r4]

And btw you may be asking yourself how I came to be in a situation with someone who clearly didn’t respect my personhood and would enforce his own reality on me so completely that I feel like I will always be at least a little locked out of myself. And the answer is that I was used to a level of abject cruelty so profound that even that treatment seemed like a kindness in comparison.

[unabashedlyfuriousenthusiast]

A Christmas Eve Gift from the Heart

As Christmas Eve approaches, a sense of peace and joy that can permeate the thickest strata of grief fills the air. While the holiday season is often marked by gift-giving and festive cheer, I find myself grateful for a gift that transcends the material: the incredible community of bloggers with whom I’ve had the privilege to connect with. Throughout the year, you inspire me. Your words, your…