Everywhere you may go in this world, there is a way they communicate to say “Thank you”. This is because gratitude is an handed over quality from age to age, from one community to another, and from one generation to the next. Gratitude is so powerful that it crosses from land to the sea, from desert to futile land but also it has to go far to cross all other kinds of boundaries, creed, age, vocation/professions, gender/sexuality, and nation. Gratitude is emphasized by all great traditions, religions, and spirituality.

When I come out of the land of my birth, I had to change a lot of ways I was used to communicating to say thank you. We were trained to bow our heads to say thank you or as a sign of gratitude. It was seen to be donkey manners not to be grateful……. feeding a donkey and giving it water doesn’t shield you from its kick when you stand behind it.

In Jamaica, they will tell you “manners, respect” just to mean thank you. It took me a while to start using these words and they mean a lot. One sign I see with Rastafarian doing when saying ‘respect or manners’ is bringing their right hand on their chest and a slight bow. To me it means a lot, that means their thanks is not just from the lips, but straight from the heart.

For the past few weeks I was in a mood of being ungreatful but on the other hand I had occasions that just pushed me gently to be greatful.

1. I am grateful for just being alive 
2. My family is a big thank you that I cannot wrap around it. 
3. The journey I am in, as raw as it is, I’m thankful for it
4. Every weekend I’m with a pastor who is not just a priest, but a human being in many ways that I have missed in life. 
5. I have met men and women, friends who have been so close to me now that I am away from my biological family. I love them from heaven and back and I am grateful for them. 
6. Gifts God has given me, writing blogs, being able to get books and read them, and other talents that if I start writing here it’ll take a century. I am super happy. 
7. I have this friend who keeps telling me “I love you” …. This fuels me to keep going. 
8. Life hasn’t been as I may have wished, but each bump, every hill are, every part of the journey have a lot to be grateful for. 
9. Just having somewhere to lay, and all that I have that I don’t deserve, only God can be looked to receive the Thank you. 
10. I’m grateful for you my reader for you motivate me in a way you may not know.

In Swahili we say, “Asante.

In kikamba we say “Muvea”

In Philipines we say “salamath”

In French we say “he vous remercie”

And in Jamaica 🇯🇲 we say “nuff 🙏 respect, manners”