What Are You Thankful For?

What Are You Thankful For?

This is Informational and a Non-Fiction Post

Editorial

This has been a year of great failures. The so called Super Committee who were supposed to figure out how to cut 1.2 Trillion dollars from the Federal Budget failed because of a lack of will to do what’s right and outright fear of their corporate masters and their lobbyist handlers who have all but enslaved them to a lavish lifestyle, Senators, Congressmen and Congresswomen bought and paid for, working for anyone but the people who elected them.

90 Banks have failed in Iowa, MF Global led by former Goldman Sachs exec and former New Jersey Governor John Corzine failed and lost over 600 million dollars of retirement money. But the biggest failures this year come in the fact that America has failed to educate our children to current world standards, almost making the guarantee that we will become a third world nation in the next 30 years.

But in all these failures we have much to be thankful for. Like what you may ask? As bad as things are they could be worse. If someone you love is still living, be thankful. If you have a roof over your head and food on your table (no matter how humble or meager the portions respectively) be thankful. If you have your health, no matter how bad you think it is, be thankful.

If you can express yourself by writing to the White House or Congress and not be locked up for your opinion no matter how spot on or totally anarchist it is, be thankful.

If you can read, do thank a teacher. If you can read in English, thank a Marine. Our military is still the finest in the world and our global power is still unmatched to this day, for that, be thankful. If you own a gun, if you can fire that weapon at a range or in your yard, or if you can hunt and not yourself be hunted by your government, be thankful. If you have any hope that things can get better and will by working with friends, family and fellow believers, be thankful.

When a day called ‘Black Friday’ gets more attention than a National Day of Thanksgiving, we have proof that our Nation has lost its values, marginalized its own meaning and forsaken its traditions. If we give into the despair brought on by an intransigent congress, a piss poor economy and Corporate shysters who could care less about you except as a prospective purchaser, than we have lost this nation.Every November since before the founding of these United States, Americans have celebrated Thanksgiving.

But I beg you not to give in and steal back our Thanksgiving.Giving thanks to God, with neighbors, friends and family for the blessings that liberty and hard work have given us. But recently we have all but forgotten about God, we have let secular interests that mask insidious anti-Christian and anti-Theistic agenda’s take root and steal the meaning of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is now the day before Black Friday.

I know that being with your family can be stressful. But they are your family and there is much to be thankful for. Even if you don’t have much, you can share with someone who has nothing to eat or has nowhere to go.

The worst thing in the world is to be alone on Thanksgiving Day, although many people are. Not all our leaders are totally tone deaf to the suffering of the American people. But we must release our own cynicism when our leaders acknowledge the Nations traditions and its people.

Today the President of the United States announced the following: “In times of adversity and times of plenty, we have lifted our hearts by giving humble thanks for the blessings we have received and for those who bring meaning to our lives.

Today, let us offer gratitude to our men and women in uniform for their many sacrifices, and keep in our thoughts the families who save an empty seat at the table for a loved one stationed in harm's way. And as members of our American family make do with less, let us rededicate ourselves to our friends and fellow citizens in need of a helping hand.

As we gather in our communities and in our homes, around the table or near the hearth, we give thanks to each other and to God for the many kindnesses and comforts that grace our lives. Let us pause to recount the simple gifts that sustain us, and resolve to pay them forward in the year to come.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 24, 2011, as a National Day of Thanksgiving.

I encourage the people of the United States to come together whether in our homes, places of worship, community centers, or any place of fellowship for friends and neighbors to give thanks for all we have received in the past year, to express appreciation to those whose lives enrich our own, and to share our bounty with others.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.”

(To read the whole proclamation go to http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2016820498_proclamation24.html)

In a year full of failures and losses we still have much to be thankful for. The worst days for some of us Americans would be a pretty fair day for anyone else anywhere else on the face of this planet.

So it all boils down to the question; What are you thankful for?

RJ