the story of Gratus En

the root of gratitude is gratus.

and the root of Gratus En. begun 21 years ago.

what will you do sweetheart?

my dad asked my brother and i this question when i was 15.

and i was mad. i was so mad, i stood up and left the dinner table.

unheard of in my family. before my very loving but strict chinese father.

my father, the man who toiled days after he was made head of the family when he was in his teenage years when my grandfather suddenly departed. weary because he worked endlessly, as many do, serving the community as a council manager. my impressions of him, rushing to make calls when the lifts broke down, sitting in the car waiting as a child while he attended meetings. studying in his office on the weekends while he typed out documents and replied mails.

my father who said with worldly weariness,” it’s hard to count on anybody sometimes. when you hear the stories the older generation tell you”

stories of abandonment. days spend wondering why they ended up destitute and alone. nights, those long nights, wandering. inside memories. inside their 50m2 rooms. alone.

i was mad. and righteously so. where are their children. where is the government. where are the people who should be caring and listening to this.

and rage that my father would, and could, count us into the probability of being one-of-those.

21 years later.

with a few of my favourite words. it begins.

Coalesce

mid 16th century: from Latin coalescere ‘grow together’, from co- (from cum ‘with’) + alescere ‘grow up’ (from alere ‘nourish’)

Gratus 

the latin root of grateful. gratitude. pleasing. thankful.

and then wikipedia tells me it goes deeper and further back

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Indo-European *gʷr̥Htos, *gʷerH- (“to welcome, greet, praise”). Cognates include Sanskrit गृणाति (gṛṇā́ti, “to praise”), Old Church Slavonic жрьти (žrĭti) and Old Prussian girtwei (“to praise”).

and it also means beloved.

En 恩

the chinese word for gratitude. the anchor word in our children’s names.

the basis of our hope.

of all that we can ask in their lifetime, is that they would serve in gratitude.

this begins the journey of Gratus En.