What are you thankful for?

Well? I used to say I was thankful for being born in the United States of America. But that seems rather dubious at the moment. Canada is looking pretty good. Actually, Canada is blooming. I think their tether to the U.S. economy was holding them back. They’ve entered their own autonomy in the global marketplace and are running with the bit in their teeth, eh? Good for them. Plus, the Prime Minister Mark Carney is a cat dad and has a cat Nico. As Mark Twain said: “When a man loves cats, I am his friend and comrade without further introduction.” Yup, being a true cat lover defines your authenticity as an upstanding human being.

What I am thankful for is my faith, my family and friends, my health, my job, my home and the “plenty” I do enjoy. The USA, even with all its woes, is still in better shape than a lot of the world’s countries. Could we be better? Sure, that’s always true. But it really could be a whole lot worse. I could have been born in the Ukraine. Before the war, it was a lovely country. Now its savaged people are bleeding, starving and struggling to survive. All while fighting to the death, literally. I pray for them every day. Other lands I could have been born in, I would likely not have lived but a year or two, and beyond that life is so brutal you can’t call it living. Prayers to all who hunger and thirst. The USA is looking pretty good in that light. 

Or I could have been born a penguin in Antarctica. Another daily fight for survival, swimming to catch my dinner while eluding hungry seals also looking to catch their dinner. But being able to zoom around underwater like a bullet would be cool. But the rest, in my current consciousness as a human, would be pure misery: cold climate, beyond cold, frigid; a diet of fish; overcrowding and crowding together to share warmth in order to survive; and the smell. Ugh. I’m thankful I’m not a penguin.

This year has blasted by. It seems like I’ve been very busy, but I can’t really tell you why that is over previous years. I hear that from a lot of people though. So, we’re all feeling it. I think we’ve all just got to “Stop and Smell the Roses.” Mac Davis, a singer/songwriter from the 70s, had a song by that title. The refrain has a line: “You’re gonna find your way to Heaven is a rough and rocky road, if you don’t stop and smell the roses along the way.”  The song urges listeners “to count your many blessings every day.”  Find the song on Alexa or Siri or Spotify. Worth a listen.

And while listening, think about what your blessings are. You may be surprised how many you actually have when you run the tally. Be thankful. You could have been a penguin.