25 Things Classy Men Are Thankful: A Response To A Newly Aging 24 Year Old Lush

Someone once told me that life is not about getting what you want but appreciating what you have. Now I am full on raging capitalist and I have some conflicts with that statement, but there is some truth there. Someone close to me hit a bit of a middle-mid life crisis on her oh-so-old 24th bday. I asked my dear friend to stop frowning and write down 30 things she was proud of, 30 things she was grateful for and 30 things that make her laugh (10 is just boring and so over rated). She instead wrote a great post that truly embodied everything that is cutesy, corky and innocent about her. Now that is no backhanded compliment, it is an admiration for something preserved and hard to find. She decided against the suggested 30 and went with a much simpler 24 to honor the many many years she has lived on this earth. At the end, she passed my message forward and asked her readers to do the same. Great post Bday girl! I don't normally respond to calls to action, but to not honor the wishes of a beautiful bday girl is blasphemous!

So here are 12 things I am proud of and 13 things I am grateful for totaling 25 in order to differentiate from my compadre.

1. Family. Not only the blood kind, but the kind that develops and grows with me over time
2. Love. The ability to love and be loved by more than myself.
3. Good health. So many people in this world struggle to just have "okay health"
4. Service. True relationships and friendships are not built on all that we receive from one side, its about adding value through thoughtful actions of service towards one another.
5. Honesty and influence. The ability to speak my minds and use my words. Not everyone likes it, but 100% honest is always better then 1% deception... unless you're James Bond.
6. Creativity. Most people only see what is presented to them within the confines of  their own perception and few people can actually see David behind the layers of stone that cover him.
7. Empathy. Without stepping foot into someone else's shoes how could we ever understand anything beyond ourselves.
8. Gratitude. Being grateful for being grateful, the fact that this emotion exist is awesome in a society that is being raised and influenced by Jersey Shore and Real Housewives.
9. Perseverance. People are not as greatly judged for their accomplishments, rather what they did after they failed and if they decided to get back up.
10. Logic and intelligence. Im just happy that my brain works and that I like to think good :p
11. Cause and passion. To know and identify one's cause gives us the ability to have laser focus on our life path and with it nothing can get in our way. Without it everything matters and our lives become cluttered with things that have no real meaning.
12. And of course Class. Keeping things that are classy simply classy... Like ties, scotch and penguins

We cannot exist without our environment and the things that God has put into our lives. So here are a few things I am grateful for that have become apart of my life.

1. Art and music are two things that I just cant live without, I'd literally go insane.
2. Women. I know what you are going to say.... and yes! Without women class would not exist. Lets face it, class is a masculine quality, onset by feminine ideals, created for us to differentiate ourselves to the opposite sex. If it weren't for sexy beautiful women and all of your palates, work out classes, sexy dresses and itty bitty bikinis, class and this blog would not exist! I'd instead be writing about cheeseburgers, beer, and fighter jets (still cool, but not the point)! So women around the world, class and I salute you!

-I digress.

3. A country that accepts me and my friends and my family, and allows us to be us and me to be me.
4. Living in a progressive time connected by developing technologies that fosters a smaller world with great possibilities.
5. A freezing cold can of Coca Cola on a hot summer day. you just can't beat it and Pepsi just won't due
6. Traveling has made my life so much richer and fuller. I will always cherish the people I met and experiences that I had around the world.
7. College, thank you for giving me a liver made of steal, bullets and tiger blood that allows me to drink much more than the average man.
8. Never having to eat alone and eating well.
9. The roof that is over my head.
10. The beach and the fact that Poseidon is only a mile away from my doorstep makes me a very happy man.
11. A job that I genuinely enjoy, pays well and gives me the ability to live the life I want to live.
12. Living in LA and never having to be bored.
13. Everything Classy, including (but not limited to) suits, ties and tie clips, peaked skinny lapels, scotch, Vesper Martinis, James Bond, TODs, cuff links, time pieces, 9 o'clock shadows, sweet rides, outwitting an aggressive opponent, kicking his ass if it progresses into a physical confrontation or he starts cursing when women and children are present with the Akido that I secretly learned watching badass Steven Seagal films.

That is not all but it will just have to suffice for now. Have a classy Saturday people!