Thinksgiving

A quick etymology lesson to take us all into the holiday:

The words "thank" and "think" are both ultimately derived from the same Latin root word, "tongere", which means "to know".  It appears that when our ancient forebears wanted to express appreciation for another person's action or contribution, they did not originally convey gratitude overtly.  Instead, they conveyed understanding -- "I know what you did."  "I am thinking about what you have given me." -- and that expression of awareness was meaningful.  A mindful comprehension of a deed or a relationship or even an object implied that you recognized its worth.  Over time, "think" and "thank" developed separate spellings, pronunciations, and nuances.  "Think" focuses on the mental processes that enable us to better "know" something.  "Thank" focuses on the recognition of something's value to you.

The link is the ancestral human insight that when you know something well, you naturally develop an appreciation for it.  So when you take time this Thanksgiving to acknowledge your family and your friends, your comforts and luxuries, the good fortune you've enjoyed and the bad fortune you've avoided, spare a few moments to consider your legal education.  It might seem odd to suggest you should be grateful for knowing the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or how to write a legal brief or the different classifications of collateral in secured transactions, but if you stop to think about the value of these tools to you -- tools that most people cannot grasp, let alone wield -- don't you feel richer?  And grateful, not just to the people who helped you acquire these tools (including, I hope, yourself), but also for the existence and quality and usefulness of them?  

Cicero wrote, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”  He knew that gratitude is not just a soppy sense of obligation for having received a boon.  It is a deep and honest perception of meaning and value -- the starting point from which wonder, possibility, humility, generosity, and creativity can spring.  This week, once you've recovered a bit from the sometimes exhausting, sometimes tedious, sometimes terrifying grind that this semester has been, give yourself the gift of earnestly contemplating all that you have learned and all the good that will come of it.  

[Bill MacDonald]