Charity Coats and Thankfulness Scarves - Our Choice...

Every time I start to write this I get start hearing George Michael's voice singing "Charity is a coat you wear twice a year" from Praying for Time yet what I want to write about is being thankful... Sometimes I think thankfulness is something we put on like a scarf to go with that charity coat twice a year.

 I wonder... I wonder... Oh, God, I wonder why is that thankfulness only seems to matter in November? Why is it that charity only seems to matter in December? Why is it that we want peace on Earth and love for all mankind from Thanksgiving to Christmas? Then the rest of the year, we support war and violence and greed while we blame our fellow man for circumstances beyond their control. Why, oh, why?

 It seems like it's so hard for us to see the world around us through clear eyes.

 And then I wonder... I wonder... Oh, God, I wonder would we even bother to be thankful that one month a year if we didn't feel obligated  inspired by the approach of Thanksgiving. What if we moved Thanksgiving to July? Could we feel thankful then? What if we had a Thanksgiving every single month? Could we be thankful more often.

 And then I wonder... I wonder... Oh, God, I wonder would we feel more accepting and loving and kind if we could only tap into those same lessons taught at Christmas in March or June or September or even every month of the year.

 As I think about George Michael's lyrics, my heart aches. This is the time we have. It is up to us to make the best of it. We choose to love or to hate. We choose to offer kindness or cruelty or even indifference. We choose to focus on the positive in our lives or the negative in our lives. We choose to see one another with compassion or with judgment. We choose whether to wear our charity and thankfulness every day or to save it for a special occasion. We choose to sow division or to weave a blanket of unity.

 For those who now have Praying for Time teasing their memories and tickling their ears.



We can be thankful for one another today, tomorrow, and every day even when the world tells us we don't have be or that we shouldn't be, or we can keep playing this game where we put on our charity coats and our thankfulness scarves twice a year... It's our choice. It's my choice. It's your choice.

 Having said all that, I want to take this excuse opportunity to say I am thankful for my readers, particularly those who have faithfully read my work throughout my life. Thank you!




T. L. Cooper is an author and poet whose work aims to empower and inspire through an exploration of the human condition. Her poems, short stories, articles, and essays have appeared online, in books, and in magazines. Her published books include a collection of short stories, Soaring Betrayal, her Silhouette Poetry Series, and a novel, All She Ever Wanted. She grew up on a farm in Tollesboro, Kentucky. She currently lives in Albany, Oregon with her husband and three cats.

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