vikas mittal

For Days 4-6 , I am giving thanks to some externalities that shape everything about me.  My family and I have extreme gratitude about the following: Day 4: Gratitude to be a citizen of the United States of America Day 5: Gratitude to be from the Great State of Texas Day 6: Gratitude for Amarillo   Day 4: Proud to be an American My parents came to the United States in the 1970s legally.   My father came as a Master Degree’s student and found a job.   My mother came as his spouse.   They embraced my parents, showed them what is possible and set them on a course of living the American Dream for decades.   Much of our belief and faith in the future comes from seeing the promise of America over and over again.   My parents lived the American Dream – many people have been employed by their businesses, many buildings have been built, thousands of corporate taxes submitted. My brother fought for America in Operation Enduring Freedom. My spo...

For Day 3 gratitude, I wanted to express gratitude for something abstract.  And that is for memories.  I have been blessed over and over again in my life, from my family to the great teachers previously written about to the friends and colleagues that I will write about it.  Last night, I had a chance to reminisce with two friends.   We relived memories about first meeting, surviving and thriving during Hurricane Sandy (we had it pretty easy by all comparisons), work, life, family, children, politics, history, books, television shows and much more.   The chance to remember, to recall great memories is like going through that experience a second time.   I am thankful for my memories. Alzheimer's disease , in my opinion, is the worst of all diseases.   It allows the memories to remain but without context or recognition of time – when the memory occurred versus right now versus other moments of time.   Every few years, we hear about medical bre...

In my second day of gratitude, I would like to stick with showing gratitude towards some of my high school teachers.   I have once again not included names for privacy purposes.   I loved my time at Amarillo High School – attribution goes to my fellow students and the wonderful teachers.   In the interest of space and time, I will list out only a few that I am especially grateful for: 11 th Grade American History Teacher : History came to life through brilliant lessons and deep discussions / knowledge.   Success measured by all students being engaged, and many many students passing the AP American History exam.   If you know me, I love American History and can trace it back to this specific class. 11 th Grade English Teacher : This teacher taught multiple classes.   And all the students in those classes would read typically 25-50 pages each night for 9 months.   Vivid discussions, use of multi-media – in the 1990s no less.   Created portfoli...

I have seen multiple social media advertisements about taking a ‘gratitude journey’ in December.   In this, you journal / write something that you have much appreciation and thanks for in your life.   I am accepting this journey.   For me, I feel very blessed for the family and friends that I have.   I will focus on the later – the friends, acquaintances, colleagues; past and present; that are in my life*.   Each day, I will select someone different and write about them.   I will use a pseudonym for the person to protect individual identity.   If you read something and it sounds like you, it may very well be you. *** The first person is actually two people.   I honored them both during a ceremony 30 years ago as a high school senior.   It was two teachers who taught me fundamental lessons and shaped my life in ways that seemed unimaginable when I was in 6 th grade.** The first teacher was a gym coach who always pushed me to work hard. ...