A Spirit of Thankfulness

The latest large-scale lottery winners in the UK have shown themselves to be blessed with an admirable spirit of thankfulness.

As, overnight, they contemplated a windfall of £101m, their first decision was to identify the twenty people who more than anyone had given them a significant helping hand in their journey through life. To each of them, sometimes family, sometimes friend, they would give one million pounds as a way of saying thank you. When they declared this at the press conference held to announce their identity, they made it clear that the recipients had been told already, and anyone in their circle who had not heard from them would not be receiving a gift.

The couple, in their wish to honour and help those who had helped them when it was needed, and then certain charities, showed a clarity of intent and a determination to do what they felt was right with their new wealth, to use it wisely and generously. Whether they succeed or not in this intent is up to them and not for us to judge.

Their story caused me to reflect – not on what I would do with a big lottery win, though I have played with that dream before – but on who has given me a quiet helping hand over the years of my life so far. I realised it was something I had never done, to remember as many acts of true kindness and significant assistance towards me as I could in one exercise, and I wished I had done it before. Some of the people whom I identified are still in my life, others have drifted away, one or two are dead. It was humbling to see how much and how many loving goodwill and actions I had forgotten.

The process of remembering enabled me to acknowledge them again even just to myself, in a spirit of great thankfulness. Very probably these individuals, wherever they are, have no thought of the part they played in my life, but I hope they feel my gratitude for their love, and that it is reciprocated so very much.