It is hard times for many in our Country today, but we should stop and be thankful. In many households family members are missing this year. They may be serving their country in Iraq or Afghanistan. They may be working out of town or even estranged from their loved ones as hard economic times and war takes a toll on many families. We may sit down to dinner today and lift up prayers and remembrances of loved ones who have passed on or remember better times, but for most of us…we have a warm home and full tummies to be thankful for.
We are not among the homeless who are huddled outdoors in make shift shelters or crowded into missions and churches. We are not living in poverty and despair in a third world country. We are not living in tent cities in Haiti where disease is raging and death is a constant companion. Even those of us who have reduced wages, higher health care costs, and less under that Christmas tree this year have more than the majority of the people on this earth.
We have better cars, larger homes, and more variety of food to eat than most. We can communicate to our families by email, phone, and even snail mail. And while we may groan about postal rates and reduced services, we have the most reliable mail system in our hemisphere. We can visit our family and friends by car, air, or rail and rail is getting better and cheaper everyday. Even though much to do about nothing was made of the TSA pat downs…the majority of us flying this week made it safely and on time.
Yes, this is not the Thanksgiving of the past. Last Thanksgiving, we were still numb over the financial crash and the glow for many of us who voted and supported President Obama was still with us. Two holidays ago, I was ecstatic about the election and planning a trip to DC for the swearing in of our new president.
Yes, things have not worked out as we had all hoped, but we don’t have 25% unemployment that might have occurred under McCain/Palin. We didn’t lose the car industry, troops are coming home from Iraq and we are trying to make a better health care system. It is not the single payer that I and many others wanted, but it is the first time we have a chance to reform the system and Democrats haved tried for decades to make changes.
We have an intelligent, nonorable man in the White House who has accomplished a lot more than we give him credit for and hard-working senators and representatives on the left and moderates on the right that need our support more than ever in this divisive climate. We need to support the non profits and causes that we care about now more than ever.
So I say to you (as much to myself), buck up and be thankful and help those less fortunate than yourself. If you don’t have the cash to help out your favorite charity, volunteer a few hours next week or make calls or help serve a meal in a soup kitchen or shelter.
Even though this Thanksgiving is not all I hoped for in the coming together of my church and personal family , I cannot forget the weathered face of a man in a local dinner I saw last Sunday.
I knew him immediately. I met him a couple of years ago when our church opened it doors briefly in the bitter cold for the homeless. His friend brought him in hopes that he would stay in the church that night. He lived in a bus at that time. It was not a running bus with heat and enclosed. Even the windows were broken out. I know that since I saw him last, he has had health concerns and suffered frostbit. He has been victim of beatings and abused by others who wander the streets.
A good Samaritan was arranging for a hotel room for him for the month this day. I know that there not enough Samaritans to help everyone in even our small town to give shelter to all who are without a home, but this stranger was trying. This homeless man once had a good job, family, and everything most of us have. We may be disappointed by the political climate, career changes, or family estrangements. We may not know what the future holds for us because of illness, divorce or unemployment, but at this time we are warm and dry and reading a blog at our leisure on our computer. Life, circumstances and personal choices took this one man down a path that many of us have no understanding of, but today please let your heart be warmed by all that you do have and think of “him” as you sit down to eat and be thankful.
