GRATITUDE

Gustavo Zubieta-Castillo

dedicated to:

James Muldrey, Professor of biochemistry, Tulane Medical School, USA.

Walter Unglaub, Dean, Tulane Medical School, USA

Rafael Rubio, Professor, Instituto de Cardiología de México

Skip Houser, Teacher and Director, USA

Thuppil Venkatesh, The Lead Man of India

and many that remain in our memory

---

Life grants us certain favors

of different nature and magnitude

that can alter the course of our existence.

Favors that can only be repaid with gratitude,

because they are beyond price.

Gratitude is the quiet virtue of recognition—

the “debts” the heart acquires

that no act can truly reimburse.

.

It is most unfortunate that in such a state,

of favors received along the way,

we sometimes lose the chance to give back.

Because human beings, with time, disappear;

and gratitude remains only in memory,

a silent and private truth within us.

Gratitude is a virtue of such magnitude

that any words written to contain it

will always fall short.

.

We should not search for fault in those

who circumstantially crossed our path

and inflicted damage upon us,

because, in time, they will taste their own bitterness..

the weight of their flawed choices and wrong behavior.

.

Some may rise, become visible, even celebrated,

and wish for one’s disappearance,

from the spaces they now inhabit,

in order to erase bad memories,

because one was a witness to who they truly were.

It is strange how such profound human behavior

holds our attention only for a moment.

.

Human development

is a quiet, constant adaptation

shaped by experience and knowledge

a fragile effort to preserve a pleasant life

and a harmonious relationship with those around us.

 

 

Translation by Gustavo Zubieta-Calleja (Jr).