When I visited Thailand years ago, I had the pleasure of tasting about 20 different types of exotic, tropical fruits like pineapple and mango, some of which were first in my life. Each had a unique color, shape, smell, and taste. It occurred to me then that there were plants and fruits in places that we would never visit in our lifetimes and we would never have the chance to taste or smell them, but our tongue was still capable of tasting, smelling, and getting pleasure out of every one of them.

Take the orange for instance. Since it is more easily available and not as exotic as other fruits, we may incline to underestimate it; but in fact it is one of the countless bounties we are blessed with. There are currently over 600 known different types of oranges and they serve as a rich source of vitamin C that helps enhance our body’s resistance against illnesses such as the common cold. Therefore, our need for this vitamin increases particularly in the winter. With a beautiful color and smell, oranges contain a plethora of beneficial minerals such as thiamine, and vitamins such as vitamin A [1]. Vitamin C, another vitamin richly found in oranges, is an excellent antioxidant substance that fights carcinogenic free radicals. It is also essential for the protection of skin health. Oranges are also good sources of fibers and potassium that are crucial for heart health. Potassium lowers the risk of high blood pressure. Fibrous content of oranges helps to prevent diabetes development [2].

This fruit is only one of so many blessings that we are unable to count. For us to be able to appreciate these blessings we need to see, taste, feel, smell, and digest them, each of which is another reason to be grateful.

Seeing

We have to see and like the appearance of a food first before deciding to eat it, don’t we? We do not want to eat it if we feel disgusted from the way it looks. Our eyes are windows unto life so that we can see and observe the great book of the universe which is filled with miraculous works of art and get to know the divine names and attributes that manifest on them.

“Indeed, the Compassionate Provider, in order to give to them provision in more generous measure has created each of man’s subtle capacities – eye and ear, heart, imagination, and intellect – in the form of a key to His treasury of mercy. For example, the eye is a key to the treasury containing such precious jewels as the fairness and beauty to be seen on the face of the universe, and the same holds true of all the others mentioned; they all benefit through faith.” [3]

Everything – from fruits and vegetables to the eggs served by the chicken and the honey put together by bees – is created subtly and packaged in a way to appeal to our eyes in unique and protective enclosures.

Appetite

We have to have appetite so that we develop a desire to eat food. This desire is a capacity encoded into our being so we can enjoy good food and feel aversion for certain things.

“Appetite and desire for sustenance are a sort of innate or instinctive thanks.” [4]

Consuming sustenance with appetite is a way of expressing our thankfulness to the One who provides them for us, for we have appetite for the things we are appreciative of. If we do not have any appetite then we would have no desire to eat even the most delicious food. This is sometimes the case when we are ill and refuse to eat even our most favorite dishes. But think of our commonplace orange again. Like other fruits and vegetables, the orange is created with a shape or allure that will whet our appetite. God has placed sustenance at the very center of His workings in the world of living beings and guides us to this sustenance through the urges of appetite. His servants, on the other hand, are supposed to respond to these blessings with remembrance, reflection, and thankfulness.

Touching

For us to be able to taste and eat an orange, we first have to hold it in our hands. For an action as apparently simple as touching or holding anything, what “we” have to do is only to exhibit willingness to do so. Most of the processes in our bodies occur beyond our control. The joints in our fingers, the size of our hands, and the design of our arms meet our needs in the best way.

It may be an ordinary act for us to move our hands and finger joints with the help of the muscles wrapped around our bonds and triggered into action with electric signals coming through nerve cells. However, when we contemplate on all of these processes we come to the conclusion that they are not casual at all:

“Yes, we see for instance that the members and bodily systems of a fly or human being, and even the cells of the body and red and white corpuscles in the blood, are placed with so sensitive a balance and fine a measure, and they are so fitting and suitable for each other, and their mutual proportion with the other members of the body is so orderly, and they are in such harmony with them, that it is in no way possible that one lacking infinite knowledge could have given them those situations.” [5]

Smelling

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) likens believers who read the divine revelation to an orange “whose fragrance is sweet and whose taste is sweet” and those believers who don’t recite are like a date fruit, which tastes sweet, but with no fragrance [6].

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi draws attention to the manner of benefiting from the bounties of God as follows:

“Know, O Friend, that the gifts God has ordained that humanity attain or make use of come with conditions. Some of these conditions are established by God, while others pertain to human beings themselves. For example, light, air, food, and speech are God’s gifts, and how much we benefit from them depends upon our respective organs’ soundness and health. All senses and organs have been created by God Almighty; our role is to keep them sound and healthy.” [7]

The role of our willpower is limited to the functioning of these organs which are required for obtaining and consuming the sustenance needed for our survival.

When we look at an orange closely its shiny skin with thousands of tiny holes catches our attention. After the fruit is picked from a tree it remains fresh for a long time thanks to air coming through the holes in its peel.

It sends out a fragrant smell as it is sliced down. The inner parts of the peel are covered with a white, thick, and soft layer as if it is plastered. There are round, tiny buds with voids between them immediately beneath the outer peel. Like cushions, they add flexibility and strength to the peel. Inside we find segments that look like each other and are placed in an aesthetically pleasing manner. The segments are covered with a strong membrane and protected with white, fibrous walls. The segments contain hundreds of shiny and swollen tiny sacs, each of which are arranged regularly like miniaturized grapes and are also covered with membranes. These juice sacs are protected in this manner because the juice in these sacs contains vitamin C which quickly degrades upon contact with air.

“Let us imagine an army which consists of four hundred thousand nations, and each nation requires different provisions, uses different weapons, wears different uniforms, undergoes different drill, and is discharged from its duties differently. If this army and camp has a miracle-working commander who on his own provides all those different nations with all their different provisions, weapons, uniforms, and equipment without forgetting or confusing any of them, then surely the army and camp point to the commander and make him loved appreciatively.” [8]

Digesting

“Especially the members, faculties, and senses of a single of the innumerable members of those species; they are related to each other with so fine a balance and equilibrium that their balance and mutual proportion point to an All-Wise and Just Maker so clearly as to be self-evident.” [9]

The arrangement of teeth, the shape of the tongue, and the structure of the mouth function in perfect harmony with the alimentary canal, the stomach, and other digestive organs. Teeth are responsible for biting and grinding food, but if the structure and arrangement order of our teeth had differed, i.e., if our grinders had been replaced with incisors, the acts of biting and chewing would be much harder.

If our tongue did not assist us in the acts of turning and grinding food in our mouth, or if it had been larger or smaller, this would have complicated food consumption for us. This also applies to many other wise purposes related to the mobility of our chin or functions of saliva.

Oranges, or whichever blessing you may take as an example, are a sign for us to contemplate and be grateful to the One who generously provides them for us.

“He it is Who sends down water from the sky, and therewith We bring forth vegetation of every kind (from their seeds under the soil), and then from it We bring forth a lively shoot, from which We bring forth close-packed and compounded ears of grain, and from the palm-tree – from the spathe of it – dates thick-clustered hanging (ready to the hand), and gardens of vines, and the olive tree, and the pomegranate: alike (in the fundamentals of life and growth) and diverse (in structure, look, taste, and smell). Look at their fruit, when they begin to fruit and as they ripen. Surely in that there are signs for people who will believe and who will deepen in faith (as they see new signs)” (An-An’am, 6/99).

References

1. “What to know about oranges”, www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/272782.
2. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Şualar (Rays), Istanbul: Şahdamar Yayınları, 2010, p. 162.
3. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Mektubat (Letters), Istanbul: Şahdamar Yayınları, 2010, p. 412.
4. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Şualar (Rays), Istanbul: Şahdamar Yayınları, 2010, p. 635.
5. Bukhari, At’imah, 30.
6. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Mesnevî-i Nȗriye (Epitomes of Light: Mathnawi al-Nuriya), Istanbul: Şahdamar Yayınları, 2010, p. 84.
7. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Asâ-yı Musa (Staff of Moses), Istanbul: Şahdamar Yayınları, 2010, p. 20.
8. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, Şualar (Flashes), Istanbul: Şahdamar Yayınları, 2010, p. 384.

The Fountain 2018 Essay Contest

And here come the winners!

Annually organized The Fountain Essay Contest has been drawing thousands of talented writers from the United States and around the world. “Should we be grateful?” was the theme of the 2018 contest, and it was a challenge for us to select the winners out of many well-written essays. We congratulate every one for participating and sharing their stories and wisdom with us.

1^st Place
Celine Dan Tam Nguyen
“Grateful for A Soldier’s War”

2^nd Place
Gaye Brown
“At Least”

3^rd Place
Judy Ann Eichstedt
“Homeless”

Honorable Mention
Jessica Gurgick
“Grateful for Death”

Honorable Mention
Kimberly Moore
“What Do You Say?”

Here is the list of The Fountain Essay Contest 2018 participants who made into the shortlist. Winners will be announced on May 31.

• Opportunity Found in My Mother’s Hands
  By Eirene Vorhees

• A Journey
  By Reema Shafi

• At Least
  By Gaye Brown

• Beyond the Gate
  By Jacqueline Lucero

• All for the Children of Brubus
  By Patrick Finley

• Gratitude in the Face of Turmoil
  By Amir Salaam

• The Art of Being Grateful
  By Kalpana Sharma

• Grateful for A Soldier’s War
  By Celine Dan Tam Nguyen

• Gratitude: The Attitude that Matters Most
  By Sai Marie Johnson

• Gratitude: Not A Choice
  By Katharine Dasek

• Should We Be Grateful
  By Joana Godwin

• Grateful for Death
  By Jessica Gurgick

• Healing through Gratitude
  By Lisa Gomley

• Daddy’s Girl
  By Jennifer A. Sun

• What Do You Say?
  By Kimberly Moore

• Role Reversal: When My 5-Year-Old Student Became My Teacher
  By Purvee Chauhan

• On Being a Grateful Soul
  By R. H. Dorsey

• Grateful
  By Mikaela Bagdassarian

• Homeless
  By Judy Ann Eichstedt

• Taken for Gratitude
  By L. Dudzik

• Thank You. Sincerely, Me
  By Alicia Reynolds

• What Are You Grateful for?
  By Debbie Lam

• How Gratitude Makes Humanity Human
  By Lauren Wallenfelsz

Should We Be Grateful?

Submissions to be posted

October 1, 2018 – March 1, 2019

www.fountainmagazine.com

That perfect cup of coffee in the morning. Seeing an old friend for the first time in years. A big meal with your family. All of them make us feel grateful – grateful for loved ones and grateful to be alive. Gratitude is an important part of the human experience. And it’s not only for people; animals show gratitude to those who care for them.

The question is: Why do we feel grateful? What should be we grateful for? And even, should we still be grateful when we’re depressed or when our lives are a mess? For this year’s Essay Contest, we want to hear from you. What are you grateful for? Who are you grateful to? Are you grateful? We can’t wait to read your responses.

• Deadline for submissions: March 1, 2019
• Contest open to all writers worldwide
• Essay word count must be between 1,500 and 2,500
• For submissions use this link The Fountain Magazine Essay Contest 2018

Cash prizes:

• 1st Place – $1,000
• 2nd Place – $500
• 3rd Place – $300
• Two Honorable Mentions – $150 each

Frequently Asked Questions

THEME
REFERENCES
WORD COUNT
STYLE
PUBLISHING
NUMBER OF ENTRY
DISQUALIFICATION
EVALUATION
SUBMISSION
DEADLINE
WINNERS
ELIGIBILITY

THEME

What qualifies a good essay?

An essay that you feel your heart rests more comfortably on. The more concise an essay, the more acceptable it is. Its authenticity and uniqueness, and how elaborately you put your theme into words so that others are inspired from it.

REFERENCES

Do we have to include references, bibliography, notes, etc. as in an academic journal?

The Fountain is not a journal. Thus, we do not expect a full scale reference list for all the information you provide. But, we encourage contributors to provide at least a reasonable number of references (not more than four or five) especially for the arguments borrowed from other sources, as it would make your work more reliable. If the kind of information you provide needs citation, please provide it; but essays with lengthy references are not preferred. Some reference and recommendations for further reading may help readers who are interested in the essay. Accuracy of data is expected in essays in which information provided needs sourcing. An essay based on personal experience does not require citation, and it is equally acceptable.

WORD COUNT

Does the word count limit include the bibliography or just the essay itself?

The Fountain is not a full-scale academic journal, so we expect authors to keep references to a maximum of four or five. Notes can be more. References and notes do not make a big change in word count which is advised to be between 1,500 and 2,500. A range is always necessary to be able to have an objective measure in terms of size.

STYLE

What kind of writing style do you expect? Can we use informal phrases? Is this essay supposed to be a personal opinion piece, or more of a scholarly supported article?

In writing style, we mainly seek consistency. We prefer the Chicago Manual of Style, but if you are more familiar with another style, that is also acceptable. Some informal usage can be OK in a certain essay, but not in another. It is basically the author’s call.

Would an essay in the short story genre qualify for the contest?

As long as your theme is skillfully woven through its structure, and if it upholds The Fountain’s values and principles, yes.

PUBLISHING

Are you going to publish submitted essays anywhere?

We might publish submissions in The Fountain, both the print and web editions, even if the essays did not win any prize. By submitting your essay to this contest, you agree that you give permission to The Fountain to publish it in any medium.

NUMBER OF ENTRY

Can I submit more than one essay?

No. One entry per person.

DISQUALIFICATION

What makes an essay disqualified?

1. Offensive and devotional essays—particularly essays that emphasize superiority of a specific worldview or derogating a specific worldview—will not be considered for the Grand Prize. Essays that “propagate” a certain spiritual order, a religious denomination, a spiritual leader, or a political activist, etc. in a way that subordinates all other faiths and traditions are considered devotional and will be disqualified.
2. Title is missing – Do not forget to put a title. Title tells a lot about the essay and important for readers and reviewers to see what lies in the center of your message. Missing title will disqualify your submission.
3. If the word count exceeds the 2,500 limit by more than 200 words, or if it is less than 900 words, your essay will be disqualified.

EVALUATION

Who will determine the winners? Can you explain more specifically what you are looking for in a winner?

The winners will be determined by our board who will decide according to the literary effectiveness of the essay in reflecting the philosophy behind the motto, richness in content, and authenticity.

All submitted essays will be evaluated using the following criteria.

1. Relevance to the contest theme (40 points)
2. Innovation & creativity (30 points)
3. Writing style and structure (30 points)

SUBMISSION

How am I going to submit my essay?

Fill out the form, attach your document and send it.

DEADLINE

When is the last day for submissions?

March 1, 2019

WINNERS

When will the winners be announced?

April 30, 2019.

ELIGIBILITY

Who is eligible to participate in this contest?

There is no age limit or a condition to fulfill for entry. The contest is open to all who want to share his or her ideas with us.

THE FOUNTAIN ESSAY CONTESTS

How to Face a Disaster?
2017

I am an Immigrant
2016

The Defining Theme of Our Age
How do you think history will record the 21st century?
2015

You and Your 100-Year-Old Self
Celebrating The Fountain’s 100^th issue
2014

What Is Your Motto?
2013

The Last 72
2010

How to Face a Disaster?
2017

FIRST PLACE

• Curtains in the Breeze
  Nyri Bakkalian

SECOND PLACE

• 80 Miles
  Beth J. Polazzo

THIRD PLACE

• It’s Not about Where You Break
  Kassandra M. Lighthouse

HONORABLE MENTIONS

• Sweaty Armpits and Infinite To-Do Lists
  Jordann Cress
• Love and Suicide
  Jan McDaniel

I AM AN IMMIGRANT
2016

First Place

• Peter Ferguson Swarr

Second Place

• Matthew Hawk Eldridge

Third Place

• Valentina Locatelli

Honorable Mention

• Salma Hany Abdel Fattah
• Claudia Verona

Special Thanks

• Karina Nava-Melchor
• Ray Mwareya
• Lawrence Brazier
• Janette Conger
• Nuran Elif Öztürk

The Defining Theme of Our Age
How do you think history will record the 21st century?
2015

First Place

• Mariya Tytarenko

Second Place

• Tony Mitchell

Third Place

• Billy von Raven

Honorable Mention

• Deborah Moldow
• Serenity Jean Miller

You and Your 100-Year-Old Self
2014

1st Place

• Elizabeth Allen

2nd Place

• Matt Hritz

3rd Place

• Philip Golabuk

Honorable Mention

• Tarbia Hamid
• Jean Blanchard

What Is Your Motto?
2013

First Place

• Magdalena Rusanova

Second Place

• Noble Lee

Third Place

• Janet Fichter

Honorable Mention

• Caroline Lancaster
• Elizabeth Harmatys Park

THE LAST 72
2010

First Place

• Joseph J. SALTER

Second Place

• Ha-Thanh NGUYEN

Third Place

• Joanna BODNAR

Honorable Mention

• Belinda STURGILL
• Kimberly PARKER