Sorry to have been such a lousy blogger the last few days. Spending time with the family and such, and letting work-related things slide for once on my days off.
I’ll get back on the ball Monday, if not sooner.
I’ve been thankful for the time with the fam. Anybody out there want to elaborate on anything they’re thankful for?
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Yes…I am very thankful that…
you “have been such a lousy blogger the last few days”…
hahaa..just kidding.
I am thankful I am an American. We are not perfect…but we are the best thing going!!!
Brad…have a nice holiday.
Chris
There is much to be thankful for in general just being blessed to be an American. By the grace of God, any one of us could have been a Bengladishi or Rwandan for example. But that gives us a higher calling to reach out and help others and free the repressed where we can. Here is my condensed thankful for list:
1. Military and veterans who continue a personal sacrifice for all of us.
2. Normal people who get up every day and head to their jobs to support their families and show some self responsibility and initiative. These are the whole range of Wal-Mart workers, teachers, engineers, airport shuttle drivers, doctors, police, garbagemen, researchers, bricklayers, firemen, etc who really make this country tick.
3. Students who work hard to succeed academically while serving in service type groups like 4H, Beta, National Honor Society, Teacher Cadet. These are the core of our hope for the future.
4. Family and friends – This goes without saying except to say that most of the problem people in society are somehow isolated from this in one way or another.
5. That we live in a primarily Christian principled society because considering what I see are the alternatives to this are totally inadequate and unnacceptable.
Ed <== Thankful to have been born in the United States and for Gods' other manifold blessings. "...and what hast thou that thou didst not receive?" 1 Cor 4:7
I would say I’m thankful (to the unknowable force of existence) for items #1-4 on Dave’s list, and thankful that I live in a society where the state does not (yet) force upon me its interpretation of item #5, that for now at least an American can still be free to believe something other than official Christian doctrine.
I also would embrace Dave’s first statement, but modify it as follows:
“There is much to be thankful for in general just being blessed to be a fortunate American. By the grace of God, any one of us could have been a less-fortunate American, for example. But that gives us a higher calling to reach out and help other Americans where we can.”
Dave recycles the White Man’s Burden:
By the grace of God, any one of us could have been a Bengladishi or Rwandan for example. But that gives us a higher calling to reach out and help others and free the repressed where we can.
Of course, when a Republican like St. Ronnie Reagan sends Rummy with money and WMD assistance to Saddam it’s for a higher calling to “reach out and help others and free the repressed.”
One of the minor things that I’m thankful for: Dave keeps me cynically laughing.
Phillip – I agree with your point on item 5 in regard to freedom of religion but the US was founded on Judao-Christian moral guidelines and we are fortunate for that. In addition, it has much to do with our success and prosperity but I will leave that to the Herbs of the blog to elaborate on.
Hurl – I guess I should have included Siberian Russians in that statement so you could have avoided the racial reaction. We must be politically correct at all times you know. The race baiters lurk out there.
Dave’s first four items are worthy of inclusion in my list of things to be thankful for. I’d change the fifth to the following:
I’m thankful to live in a nation that respects the religous and cultural diversity of it’s people. This includes the freedom to worship as one sees fit or not to worship at all.
Also, I’m thankful to live in a nation that believes in the sanctity of free and fair elections and where the outcome of those elections is respected by winners and losers alike.
George Will’s article in The State this morning was a bit of a wake-up call for me. He gushes all this nostalgic nonsense about how wonderful and innocent life was in the 1950s. Frankly, the world of the 50s was really quite disgusting in many important ways. We allowed ourselves to believe everything was ok and that big business was some sort of salvation for all our problems. In fact big business was destroying America with it’s over-arching greed. The cigarette industry was exploiting young people with it’s disgusting marketing campaigns aimed at the youth of our country. The big auto companies pushed every larger cars and fought government attempts to mandate safety and emission standards. The military covered up the extent of it’s dangerous testing of nuclear weapons. Government endorsed racism was accepted as part of our way of life. And lurking just beneath the surface of this false utopia the seeds of our first grand quagmire abroad were being sowed.
The real utopian age in America was the 1990s. That was the decade of unbridled economic growth and prosperity. Peace was prevalent throughout the world. Racism was no longer tolerated let alone codified in state law. People were living long and healthy lives.
I have hope that we can return to this utopian age of not so long ago. Starting with the successful elections of 2006 we may well be on the path to a new age of peace and prosperity. And that is something to be thankful for.