The value and meaning of being appreciated goes deeper than we can understand. It does deeper than love or friendship. Showing appreciation towards another person shows the elements of our humble humanity. It doesn’t take having any kind of relationship to be able to present the feeling of appreciation for the act of another person or just their existence in general. That is the beauty of the sentiment of appreciation as it can be dealt out to the stranger you walk past in the mall or the office.

As a person belonging to the disabled community, I know from stories or experiences that being appreciated as a person does not come as easy as other people. There has been moments in my life when I figure that having a disability is not going to be easy when it comes to other people appreciating all that comes with it. For example, the aid of mobility or general constant assistance. I have always appreciated those people who never fail in helping me with what I need. There are times when I know I have to be careful with who I have to rely on because of unforeseen situation and so forth but all in all I have a high respect and appreciation for the people in my  life. I know it isn’t always easy to always have the thought of being conscious as to help me ALL of the time.

I have learned over the years that I am definitely going to lose people in my life because of the foreseen needs that come with having a disability. I know it is not for everyone, as a result, I  am aware of knowing there will be more times like this in the future. One of the reasons I wanted to write this week’s blog is to ensure that everyone that comes across it knows that they should appreciate each and every person that comes into their lives. Never take them for granted and always make sure that you know that they know how much they mean to you. The future is uncertain and full of the unknown, so you don’t know how things will turn out between any one of the people in your life. Things can change unexpectedly, for the better or for the worse, but I know there are reasons behind it all. Thus, I need people to have the first thing on their daily check list to be “show appreciation to ALL I come across today.” Each person has their own job, reason and effect on another person as they continually grow. Whether they caused happiness, excitement or even pain. They were put in your life for a very specific reason so don’t disregard them.

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” – John F. Kennedy…