Gratitude in Action

At 7:00 p.m. every night in New York City, New Yorkers open up their windows of their apartments and homes and clap. Their vigorous, thankful clapping rings throughout the city. They clap for the health care workers, public health personnel, delivery truck drivers, grocery cashiers, mail carriers — all of the front-line workers tending to the sick and providing us with the necessities during this pandemic. It is a moment of united gratitude during days of solitude and worry. This demonstration of appreciation started in Wuhan, China.

Here in Louisiana, we too have seen small and big ways strangers, neighbors, families, and communities are uniting to help each other and advocating for those in need. Together we have urged our public officials to prioritize public health over all else during this time when thousands are sick and hundreds have died. Together, we are providing soaps and face masks to prisoners, groceries for the unemployed, and community bailouts for the poor. We are quarantined and in solitude, but not alone.

We at IPNO want to collectively recognize the people and things we are so grateful for during this challenging time. We are sharing our gratitudes and hopes and ask you to share yours. Write down what you are grateful for, snap a picture of you with the sign then send it to catf@ip-no.org. We will share as many as we can on our next Monday Memo. 

As the recording of the nightly claps was music to our ears and lifted our spirits, we hope our collage of gratitudes will, too, bring music to our hearts and remind us of the many things that unite us and make us strong together.