The Gift

It's too easy to define ourselves by what we are not:
I'm not a racist                         not a chauvinist
not a womanizer                      or a wife beater
not a pedophile                        nor a hater of children
not a rapist                              or a stalker
                             not a gossip
                        not a slanderer
                       not a drunk
                        not a druggy
not schizophrenic or manic or taking pills for depression
It's so easy to define what we're not.

                But to define ourselves by what we are:
                                  husband
                                  father
                                 salesman
                                 writer
                                  poet
                                equestrian
                         lover of children
                         friend of women
                   collector of books and art

            It seems too easy, it's not who I am,
                         
             I'm just an entity who lives in a body,
               who wakes up every day
               and moves through this life,
             experiencing this world through his senses
              I am fortunate, blessed to be this person,
             but I don't take the credit; I did not create me.

                                         I am a gift to myself,

              from a strong mother and father,
              who passed on their values they gained with their sweat,
              blood, and tears, even though that's cliche it's truthful.
              A gift from my wife who never gave up, who searched for
               the gold in the dross. A gift of my ancestors with unique DNA,
             Irish, French, English, Ojibwa, they knew how to fight,
                they knew how to love and what they did they did fiercely.
               They made me healthy and strong. They made me want to live long
                  and to improve this world.

                  This knowledge
                   a challenge to
                  make a gift of my life,
                   to spend it in the service of others.
                 I've done that before and every time that I do.
                 I discover more of who                             I am,
                  and who                                                    I can be.