What do you owe?

I had a conflict with someone who should remain nameless many years ago, who protested strongly that they had made it themselves; the position, the money, and the house were all because they worked hard. And they felt that they owed no one for their success. The pride in themselves was evident, and you might suggest that we should applaud their hard work. I don’t disagree.

But in thinking about how any of us have gotten to where we are in life, that it is a solo journey seems to deny reality. We are surrounded by people who loved us, helped us, gave us hope and held us closely.

I think we do owe others, if not a word of thanks, we owe it to them to give credit to them in word and in our hearts. Think of our parents, who sacrificed in ways that we probably will never entirely know, and of teachers, mentors, friends who brought support to us in many ways. And that is the reality for us all.

We are not solo runners in this life.

Think of medical workers, people who get food to the stores for us, and farmers who grow that good food we owe a word of thanks to. And we could go on…

What do we owe?

Even today, there are those around us who encourage and support us —and to those people, we could say thank you!