Thanksgiving, 2017

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been writing this blog for more than 11 years, and some of you - masochists that you are - have been reading it for almost all of that time. You've learned many things about me over the years, one of which is that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. In a crazy world in which we too often focus on fear and negativity*, and on the material things in life, it's good to have a day on which to sit back and reflect on the things for which we can be truly thankful.

We’re living in a time when it’s easy to be distracted from things to be thankful for, because there is so much going on that is awful. For me, this year the awful things included:

A presidential administration and its unquestioning partisan supporters that has ruined America's standing in the world, coarsened our political discourse, and undermined the health, safety, and financial security of the great majority of the American people;

The horror of realizing that, for many Americans, the murder of children is an acceptable price to pay for the protection of the right to own and carry firearms; and

A profound undermining of my faith in the essential fairness and justice of our legal system and those who serve and administer it.

On the whole, though, it’s been a pretty good year. Although there have been negatives, I have to consider myself a lucky man, for a lot of reasons … such as:

The love of a beautiful and endlessly talented wife;

Three loving and successful children of whom I am proud beyond all measure;

Six adorable, intelligent, talented, and loving grandchildren;

A large and loving extended family (considerably larger than the part shown in this picture from last week's reunion at my sister's home in Pittsburgh);

A comfortable retirement**;

A roof over my head***;

Good health^†;

Good friends;

The good fortune to be able to live in the United States of America - a country which, for all its faults, gives me the opportunity to enjoy all of the above;

The ability to write what I wish in this space without worrying about government censorship^††; and,

The ability to enjoy the good things of the world that would be denied by those whose harsh and intolerant worship of a jealous and angry God ignores the beauty and possibilities of the present in favor of rigid belief in an imagined paradise in an unknowable future.

I have many things to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day, and it's only proper that I should take a few minutes to acknowledge that I am, as ever, most richly blessed.

I wish all of you, Dear Readers, the very happiest and safest of holidays.

Have a good day. Give thanks for the good things you have and the bad things you don't. And stay out of the stores tomorrow ... you'll thank me.

More thoughts tomorrow, along with a new batch of Great Moments in Editing and Signage.

Bilbo

* Yes, Mr Trump and the GOP, I'm talking to you.

** So far, anyhow ... we'll see how it looks after Congress gets done wrecking our health care and undermining the tax code for the average American.

*** As long as we keep up the payments.

^† Until the GOP guts Medicare, anyway.

^†† Yet. Given this administration's attitude toward the First Amendment, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.