It would be dishonest to suggest that I don't care what you think. I'm human. Of course I care. Just not that much anymore.

In the old days, I'd have been embarrassed to share certain things about myself. No longer. Example: My ever-growing gratitude list that I say it out loud every day to nobody in particular. My embarrassment would have been fear of being judged as somewhere between hopelessly idealistic and cuckoo.

Now? Gratitude is my enduring practice learned in a pandemic. If 2020 has taught nothing else, it has reinforced the message that this is not the year to get everything you want. This is the year to appreciate everything you have.

Sharing this with the readership has been on my mind since last weekend. I went to a high school soccer game early Saturday night. (More gratitude: It saved me from having to watch Notre Dame throttle Boston College in football). At the end of the game, I went to interview a kid named Dom Ranelli. He scored both goals for St. Bernard in its victory over Norwich Tech.

Ranelli talked about the satisfaction of winning amid the obstacles of the COVID sports season. It wasn't even a full season. It started and stopped. Physical hurdles. Emotional barriers. The perils of a pandemic — with many similarities tethered to our everyday existence.

But then Ranelli, a high school junior, belied his age and nearly made me weep when he said, "We appreciated everything we could have and we gave everything we had."

And there goes sports again only teaching us everything.

Appreciate what you have and give it all you've got.

I bet some of you dismissed that as trite. Of course you did. Perhaps you're unaware that your dismissive wave makes you part of the problem. Because the high school kid just gave you the solution.

He just told you to be grateful for what you have. It's the point of the pandemic. No, really. There's a point to this beyond what's actually trite: the daily woe-is-us narrative. Just when we'd become completely and totally immersed in ourselves, our stories and our electronics, here comes a pandemic to remind us what really counts. And it's not what we don't have. It's about all the blessings we've chosen not to acknowledge.

I realize not everybody will heed these words. Of course they won't. Take a look every day at social media. The HCS (Human Comments Section). Testimony to acrimony. Everyone out there yelling damnation at one another. Extremism. Petulance.

It's taken me years to understand that I have no control over the way others behave. You want to be miserable? Show no compassion or empathy? Free country. I've got no time for ya, though. So keep it moving. I'd rather read my gratitude list than hear your grousing.

Here's some of what's on that list, by the way:

I'm grateful for my health. Not everyone else is as fortunate. I'm grateful for a steady, fulfilling job. Not everyone else has one. I'm grateful my son is healthy and doing well in school. I'm grateful my parents and sister are healthy. I'm grateful I have fewer financial concerns than I did a year ago.

I'm grateful for happy hour on Thursdays. I'm grateful for coffee every day at Muddy Waters solving the problems of the world. I'm grateful to have many friends. I'm grateful for my house and specifically my porch, where I carefully monitor the world. I'm grateful for a reliable car. I'm grateful for a woman named Karen Bruscini who is my spiritual advisor and wisdom-giver.

I'm grateful for so few real problems that I can consider watching the Giants a hardship (although not lately). I'm grateful for the signs of support and encouragement from the universe. I'm grateful for Johnnie Walker Black.

There's more, but you get the idea.

I never had a gratitude list before COVID. All taken for granted. Not anymore. My list will be part of the daily routine.

And so will Dom Ranelli's words: Appreciate everything ... and give it all you've got.

You should try it sometime.

Sure beats being miserable.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro