Autumn slowly draws to an end, Turkey Day just around the corner, with tidings of the Christmas season right on its tail.
But this year, Thanksgiving is coming to America at a rather difficult time.
Independent of exterior foreign issues, our nation alone is facing the greatest divide its seen in decades. There’s no hiding the undertone of tension boiling in our country, no matter how many long-forgotten singers Macy's piles into its parade.
It’s so easy now to turn on the TV, delve into the internet and become so overwhelmed with the discord erupting out all across our country. The friction of such opposing ideals is beginning to ignite small embers of uneasiness and fear within our homes, during a time when they should only be filled with the intoxicating aromas of Ol’ Tom the Turkey and laughter from all corners.
It’s as if we are waiting around for the impeding explosion.
So when it comes time to pull up a chair to that rarely used dining room table, squish your way into the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd of relatives, friends, neighbors and the occasional stranger everyone forgets about inviting, and quickly spew off a few things to be thankful for, fingers already reaching for your fork, what will you say?
Will you have anything to say?
It’s so easy to simply see the problems right in front of us, to fall into a rut of nearsightedness. Hashtags swarming Twitter, protest videos congesting Facebook, Instagram drowning in pictures of signs and posters, and Snapchat swimming in stories of complaints and tirades. The outlets at our fingertips have our minds reeling in shock, and keeping us locked into a stronghold of frustration.
And in this stronghold, with this nearsightedness, its easy to just pass the talking stick over to some other unsuspecting relative.
Because at first glance, what do we have to be thankful for? A country divided? Protests? Riots? Violence? Unrest? Hatred?
We’re so lost in the fog, that that’s all we can think about.
All we can process.
But we cannot lose sight of the blessings surrounding us on a daily basis, ones we take dangerously for granted. This Thanksgiving, as you surround yourself with friends and family, remember to shake out of the headlock despair has us in and embrace in the joys our life still continues to offer us. As lost as many perceive our country to be at this point in time, it is important to reflect on the gifts, rights and opportunities many of us enjoy ignorantly, our world teaming with societies and people who aren’t granted some if not all of these benefits.
This Thanksgiving, don’t get lost in the fog and noise. Let the light of the love you surround yourself in cut through it like a knife.
What we should be thankful for:
1. For the men and women who continue to protect our country, day in and day out, who deserve so much more credit than they are receiving. For the war they are continually fighting to keep from knocking on our backdoor.
2. For our health, and for a society teaming with easy access to round-the-clock hospitals and urgent care facilities within accessible traveling distance.
3. For clean, running water that comes immediately and inexpensively at the turn of the faucet or the untwisting of a cap.
4. For the ability of our country to run on dependable power that provides unyielding electricity to our homes.
5. For the lack of corruption in our government, where our economic system is not built upon the bribes between the people and its government.
6. For the accessible and nationally run methods of transportation, allowing the safe travel of all our loved ones to and from destinations within and outside our borders.
7. For our men and women in blue, who have done so much and continue to do much more in keeping our communities and neighborhoods safe.
8. For the lavash feast spread before us, for there are too many in our towns, our country, and in our world who barely have enough food to make it from day to day.
9. For the home we can celebrate within, the cooler weather a reminder that so many in our world don’t have the luxury of walls and a roof against the elements, and heat to keep them warm.
10. For the friends we have, that continue to light our days and support us in our endeavors.
11. For the freedom of choice, that allows each and every American the opportunity to fail, succeed, learn and express in ways most societies are not capable of.
12. For being employed in order to support ourselves and our families, the levels of unemployment in our country and many more increasing at exponential rates.
13. For the ability to clothe ourselves this winter against the impeding cold, many unable to afford a simple winter coat this season.
14. For the ability of all walks of life in America to receive an education and grow and succeed in industries of our choosing.
15. For access to the Internet and other forms of information, though blinding sometimes, offer us immediate access to all forms of biased and unbiased information.
16. For the gift of love and our ability to unite all in this discord we face amongst us, to erase the hatred and division sketched not only into our homes, but in our world.
