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Appreciate the little things
The newly-painted pedestrian crossing at Peter’s Hall, EBD.
By Sharmain Grainger
It isn’t often that people express gratitude after a good deed has been done on their behalf. In fact some people forget that they even had a need after it has been satisfied.
Remember the Bible story of the 10 lepers? Well the story is essentially about 10 men inflicted with leprosy who were healed by Jesus. After being healed only one returned to say thank you and even Jesus had to ask ‘Were there not 10? Where are the others?’
That tradition lives on, but not in Peter’s Hall, East Bank Demerara. The residents of that area, well at least some of them, are the most appreciative people I have ever seen.
I had an encounter with a few of them recently and I was truly amazed.
A simple thing as a pedestrian crossing, which is such a common feature in many communities, had these residents high in praises for the Ministry of Public Infrastructure.
Well the story isn’t as simple as that. According to one senior resident of the community, Ms. Vashti Frederick, she personally went into the Ministry to make a request for this pedestrian crossing.
She explained that for some time residents had quite a difficult time navigating the usually busy East Bank thoroughfare in the vicinity of Peter’s Hall. She disclosed that elderly folks, pregnant women and children were the most affected, and she and other residents just couldn’t bear having such a hard time crossing the road anymore.
So she was off to meet with the Minister in March to seek redress. Her concern was acknowledged, but she was skeptical that anything was going to happen…at least she had to try. Interestingly enough, by the month of May, a pedestrian crossing was in place. Of course the residents of Peter’s Hall were overjoyed by this development. They were easily crossing the road even when the traffic was at its worse.
During the past week, Ms Frederick was part of a group of women who turned up at Kaieteur News to share how grateful they were to the Ministry. They came armed with before and after photographs of the area where the pedestrian crossing is now painted and other photographs, including one with a group of smiling residents. They wanted an article published to highlight their gratitude.
I explained to them that a letter published in our newspaper could have sufficed, and even took their information and volunteered to fashion it into one on their behalf. But by the end of the conversation with them I couldn’t help thinking about how eager they were to simply say thanks. It seemed so rare that I wanted to highlight them, not necessarily the pedestrian crossing, in an even bigger way.
It isn’t merely the deed, but rather the fact that there are people around who are very appreciative for ordinary things that many of us would think are rather negligible. Many of us might even say that the Ministry has done its job and doesn’t deserve to be praised for that.
But what counts for the residents of Peter’s Hall is that their voices were heard. Because of the action of the Ministry, they feel that they are not a neglected people.
Sometimes it’s really the simple things that matter in life. Not all of us desire fancy, expensive things to believe that someone cares about us.
Maybe we can all learn a lesson from the Peter’s Hall residents. Being appreciative, even for the little things, isn’t a hard task at all.
So maybe, just maybe, we can take the time to recognize the little things in life that do count, and maybe if we show appreciation for those little things we might realise that they can help to add immense value to our lives.
This gives credence to a quote I recently came across by Ralph Marston: “What if you gave someone a gift, and they neglected to thank you for it – would you be likely to give them another? Life is the same way. In order to attract more of the blessings that life has to offer, you must truly appreciate what you already have.”
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