You Should Be Grateful

I went to an AA speaker meeting and sat at a back table a couple chairs away from a guy in his mid-fifties.  He was complaining that after six months sobriety his family wasn’t more grateful for his recovery.

“I never miss work now,” he said, shaking his head. “I go to my kids’ games completely sober. Don’t spend a lot of money on booze.”

The twenty-something sitting across from him said, “I hear you. I’m five years clean, haven’t OD’d in six years. No retail theft charges, no more DUIs, haven’t totaled a car in years. Not a single ‘thank you’ from anybody.”

“Well OK,” the older man said, looking a little confused. “But you’re not supposed to OD or wreck cars.”

The kid smiled. “That was irony. You’re right, you’re not supposed to do any of those things. You are supposed to go to work and look after your kids.  Can’t expect gratitude from other people for not doing what you’re not supposed to, or for doing what you are.”

Today I won’t expect people to be grateful for things I do or don’t do.

Burnout Training ©2018 by Ken Montrose

Burnout Training is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/