By Sr. Doreen, SSJD
“Is your glass half empty or half full?” asked the Mole.
“I think I’m grateful to have a glass.” said the Boy.
(from Charlie Mackesy’s book ‘The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse’)
My reading of Mackesy’s book was arrested by the comment to the question “I think I’m grateful to have a glass.” I found myself confronted with a deep personal question – why do we always have to measure life? Why do we always seem so anxious about life and where we are and how we are in life? Indeed the really important thought in this exchange was the wonderful acknowledgement of thanksgiving in actually having a glass at all! In Mackey’s book the boy and the mole also make comments that threw further light on this: “One of our greatest freedoms is how we react to things. The greatest illusion,” said the mole, “is that life should be perfect.”
I wondered what life would be like If I focused on the amazing things I have, instead of worrying about the things we do not have, or need, or whether my life is half full or half empty. It seems to me that the title of one of Mary Jo Leddy’s books is a good answer to this question: ‘radical gratitude’! Instead of trying to measure myself or others as being optimistic or pessimistic about life, how much more mileage of happiness we would have if we instead rejoiced in the miracle of everyday – and what we have and who we are! If I could appreciate the fact that I have a glass, that reaction opens the door to what is most real in myself. I am who I am – as Julian of Norwich is quoted when looking at an acorn/hazelnut as saying “”He showed me a little thing the size of a hazelnut, in the palm of my hand, and it was as round as a ball. I looked at it with my mind’s eye and I thought, ‘What can this be?’ And the answer came, ‘It is all that is made. It all that is made and that it would last because God loves it: God made it, God loves it, and God keeps it.” To live in radical gratitude at having a glass, at being me, that hazelnut, it is there that I find true joy. Instead of the dissatisfaction of life being either half full or half empty, of wishing my life were better or more … gives a whole new way of being. It ushers in that grace filled life where we ae all of infinite value and worth.
This is the week of prayer for interfaith harmony, whose theme this year is Love of the Good, and Love of the Neighbour’. This theme includes all people of goodwill. It includes those of other faiths, and those with no faith. In a real sense the comment about the glass being half empty or half full, changing to emphasize thanksgiving for actually having a glass – that whole new way of being, a grace filled life where we are all of infinite value and worth is something that we can celebrate together in a spirit of love and hope.
From the website for The Celebration of Interfaith Harmony 2025 they set out the goal of the week “goodwill and the power of kindness, charity, and healing. … Amidst rising religious conflicts, noble celebrations like World Interfaith Harmony Week are the call of the hour. The most important goal of this observation is to get people to realize that our common values of love, faith, and kindness easily outweigh our differences. With patience and humility, we could all make the world a wonderful place to live in — one where faith unites, and religion is not a means of oppression.”
After asking the question about the glass being half full or half empty, the characters in Mackesy’s book go on to say “We don’t know about tomorrow, all we need to know is that we love each other. When the dark clouds come, keep going. When the big things feel out of control … focus on what you love right under your nose. This storm will pass.
Committing to seeing life as a grace filled life, a life of gratitude, where we are all of infinite value and worth will also, I think, give us a more positive value for continuing on in the face of so much that seems out of synch in our world today. The boy in Mackesy’s book sighs “We have such a long way to go.” And the horse replies, “Yes, but look how far we’ve come.”
I am glad I have a glass! Gratitude living, that quality of being thankful, of being ready to show appreciation, and to return kindness for what we have and have received, for each other, and for God. It broadens our perspective on life, allowing us to be more creative and insightful. Gratitude also reduces feelings of envy, negativity, depression, and anxiety. By aaffirming the good things we’ve received and by acknowledging the role other people play in providing our lives with goodness, gratitude can change everything, and open the door to new depths of goodwill, kindness, love, and healing.
Don’t worry if your glass is half full or half empty, be glad you have a glass. Rejoice and give thanks and play it forward: may everyone also be given a glass – in whatever way you can contribute to this by acts of goodwill, kindness, love and healing. Working to become aware of each other and of strengthen each other is the focus of the Interfaith Harmony Week by building ties with each other, where common values are recognized as far outweighing the difference we have.
Instead of the ½ full or ½ empty, we can celebrate having each other and provide a strong dosage of peace and harmony to communities around the world. As the boy said to his friends in Mackesy’s book: “I’ve realized why we ae here. To love and to be loved. And what do we do when our hearts hurt, we wrap them with friendship, shared tears, and time, till they wake hopeful and happy again. Don’t measure how valuable you are by the way you are treated. Always remember you matter, you’re important and you are loved, and you bring to this world things no one else can.”
It was Meister Eckhart that coined the phrase: “If the only prayer you say in your entire life is ‘Thank You,’ that would suffice.”
