The Giving of Thanks

I learned about Thanksgiving when I moved to Texas in 1981.

Don't get me wrong, it's not that Europeans aren't thankful. We just don't have an official "Thanks Giving" day.

In the course of the ensuing 30-odd years, I attended a lot of Thankgiving lunches, dinners and days with a variety of people. What I learned-- as much as anything-- was that most people weren't really very thankful, and they often spent the day with people they'd just as well not spend the day with... often doing things they would just as well not have been a part of. If anything, the atmosphere felt rather ThankLESS...

This year-- perhaps for the first time-- I felt truly and deeply thankful for where I was, whom I was with, and what I had. Whether this was merely a change in my own perspective, or a true change in life circumstance I'm not sure about. Maybe it was both.

Either way, it felt to me like giving thanks was in order. And that-- in and of itself-- is something to be thankful for.

Gratitude is important. Not just on Thanksgiving Day, but on every day of the year.