“And the strongest emotion was that life was as precious as it was puzzling. It was an ecstasy because it was an adventure; it was an adventure because it was an opportunity… The test of all happiness is gratitude; and I felt grateful, though I hardly knew to whom… We thank people for birthday presents of cigars and slippers. Can I thank no one for the birthday present of birth?” (Chesterton, Orthodoxy, “The Ethics of Elfland”).
In modern liberal discourse, it is easy to forget the word gratitude. Gratefulness, after all, is a response to a gift, and we tend to speak of rights, not of gifts: the rights of liberty, grounded in equality, not in reception. Yet, as Christmas fades in the rear-view, the language of gift has lingered with me. I wish to ponder a simple sentiment that this season of gift-giving inspires: life is a gift.
