Take for granted
Today’s expression is “to take something for granted,” and this is a really important expression to know in English. When you take something for granted, you don’t appreciate that you have it. We all take things for granted. Here are some examples.
We have access to the internet and almost unlimited information in our pockets via our phones. Some of you might remember years back—if you wanted to know something about the Berlin Wall, say, you had to look it up in an encyclopedia. Or you had to go to the library and find a book via the card catalog and read that book. Today, we can just look it up online. Do you ever think about how lucky we are to have that? Or, like most people, do you take it for granted? Do you just forget that we are truly fortunate to have that?
Many of us take our safety for granted. We live in secure homes in safe neighborhoods; we’re not afraid as we go to sleep at night. And we don’t think about how lucky we are to have our safety—we just assume it will always be there. We take it for granted. Sometimes you don’t realize that you take something for granted until you lose it, or until you get a jarring reminder. This can happen with safety and security. You might see something on the news, know someone who was the victim of a crime, or even suffer a break-in or worse yourself. You might only then realize that you were taking your safety and security for granted.
We do this with our health, too. I don’t get sick a whole lot, but I got food poisoning last year. It was right around this time. Something I ate—boy, it didn’t agree with me. I was sick for a good 36 hours, and it was not fun. I remember thinking. I was exhausted, dehydrated, feeling miserable. I thought, I will never take my health for granted again. I will be thankful every day of my life that I’m not sick, from now on. And what happened? A week or two later I was back to my normal self, not thinking about my health or how lucky I am to have it. That doesn’t mean I was abusing my body—it just means I wasn’t actively thinking about how fortunate I am to have my health. I take it for granted.
Earlier in this episode, I was summarizing the German chancellor’s speech and I said that her main point was that we can’t take freedoms and democratic values for granted. She is reminding us that not everyone has them; that they can be easily lost; and that we are fortunate to have them now—and we should defend them and value them. She speaks with a powerful voice on this topic. Many of the people in her audience have always lived in a free Germany—either because they were born after 1989 or because they grew up in a free West Germany. Many of the people listening to her speech take the freedoms and values of a democracy for granted. But she grew up in the oppressed East Germany. She knows what it’s like to live in a police state. And she was giving a warning to her audience not to take freedoms and democratic values for granted.
It’s not hard to think of things, both big and small, that we take for granted. We are very lucky to live in this modern age. We can afford to take a lot of things for granted. Clean, running water. Food on the shelves in the grocery store. An eight-hour work day, a five-day work week—if we want it. Our rights in court if we get arrested and accused of a crime. Light in our homes. Free public education. The right to attend church—and to practice the religion you like. These are things many of us take for granted, but it’s important to know that not everyone in the world has these things that we take for granted. Even citizens of our own countries, at different points in our history, didn’t have them.
JR’s song of the week
The song of the week is “Memories” by Maroon 5. It’s a little more of a sentimental sound than what the band typically produces. It talks about looking back on good times with someone who is not longer with you. The lead singer, Adam Levine, said, “This song is for anyone who has ever experienced loss. In other words, this song is for all of us.” The song of the week is “Memories” by Maroon 5.
Today’s show is already pretty long, so we’re going to wrap up now. JR and I will be back again on Monday. See you then!
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