Thanksgiving Eve

Here it is -- the day on which all surviving turkeys get nervous. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the US, and since I will be on the road (along with a vast number of Americans), I thought I'd drop a line today. I am thankful for life, for my God, my family, Ben (he's really very near the top of the list), health (not perfect, but could be a lot worse), semi-solvency (finances too, while not great could be worse), my friends, even the challenges that come into life that I write about from time to time -- they make me think, consider, ponder life etc. Think how boring life would be if everything went our way every day. We in the US have much to be thankful for and much to hope for. We have the most creature comforts in the world. We profess to be the land of the free and the home of the brave. Sadly, Frances Scott Key who penned those words might have to reconsider in this opening decade of the 21st century. Ah, there is bravery -- we see it in our troops fighting a horrible war (another whole subject), but in the commander in chief all we see is a bully -- hell, if he were as brave as he professes, he would be there with the troops instead of trying to push around the rest of the world. The rest of the world is tired of King George and his unAmerican antics. Even people at home are tired of it as evidenced by the recent elections (another cause for gratitude). Land of the free? Can you walk down the street holding the hand of the person you love? Can you marry the one whom God placed in your life? Can you make the decisions for the medical care, etc. of the person to whom you are the closest? Can you go to work and talk about your private life? Come on, folks, in the area of freedom for GLBT people, the US is WAY WAY WAY behind. Politicians and preachers (SOME, not all) are using faggots to fuel the fires of fear and hatred that help to keep them in their positions of power. Are women free? Do they earn the same wages as their male counterparts? Do they have decision making authority over their own bodies? (Somewhat, but not total and complete). And our freedoms are being chipped away little by little -- illegal wiretaps, unauthorized searches, walls across our borders -- purportedly to keep Mexicans out -- or maybe to keep us in? Soon we will need passports to travel into Canada -- a move toward isolationism if ever there were one. How many of us are financially free? Too many are bound by the chains of excessive debt, sometimes the result of our "buy it now, pay for it someday" culture -- hell, why not? That's the way the US Government runs. Believe me, I am not sitting here trying to bash America -- for the most part I am proud to be an American. I just ask that as you sit down to a feast of Turkey and the trimmings you take a moment as you offer thanks and just pray for God's guidance, care, and love to be made known in our lives in new ways that can lead to removing some of the things I've mentioned. Much of the problem is born of fear and hatred, and love (real love, not the Valentine Card kind or the kind that is simply lip service) can remove those barriers. That is perhaps what I am most thankful for today -- a God who, in the midst of chaos and crisis, brings peace, order, harmony, and hope.

Enough of the editorializing. I am thankful for you bloggers out there who invite me into your lives and worlds. What a wonderful gift. Take time tomorrow between parades, football games (whatever those are), and gluttony (Come on now, you know you are going to overeat) to pause and give thanks to the God who created and loves you.

Happy Thanksgiving all.