Giving Thanks

It's trite, but true, that most of us living a comfortable middle class lifestyle take a few perfunctory seconds each Thanksgiving to "count our blessings" and give thanks before or after we tuck into a gigantic excess of calories.  We went around our table and each person thought about what to give thanks for and for the most part it was the usual litany of being happy that our friends and family were gathered together to reflect on our fortunate position.  The possibility this was merely a happy accident and that we could just as easily be homeless in America or living in a hut in India does not occur to most people, including yours truly.  I think most of us feel we have made our own reality and the fortunate combination of stable home lives, mentoring and just being born white in America in the latter part of the 20th century is an afterthought, when in fact it has more to do with our social status than any conscious decisions on our part.  Just as the children of the 1% will never know what many of us deal with on a regular basis; job security, health issues we can't pay for, etc., we in the middle class will probably never know the grinding poverty which forecloses many of the options we take for granted.  College education, an extra pair of shoes, knowing at the end of the day we will have a full stomach are all things most of the rest of the world deal with on a daily basis.  So, yes, I am thankful for all the things I mostly take for granted, but I hope many of the people I forget about on a regular basis will someday experience the bounty we celebrated yesterday.