It's always a good time to give thanks for this great country | GARY COSBY JR.
Living in a divided America, it is easy enough to forget to be thankful for this great nation in which we were lucky enough to be born or to which we have immigrated. America is a wonderful country filled with natural resources, beauty and wonderful people.
We sometimes forget that. I think it comes from focusing too much on the negative, and there will always be negative, and allowing ourselves to dwell too much on the dark side of things. Consider this a reminder to think on something good and to give thanks for it.
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It is important to be aware that the national media, the 24-hour a day so-called news outlets, have to keep your eyes on the TV so their advertisers will continue to give them advertising dollars. The politics of division that we hear around the clock is what keeps eyes on the TV, but it isn’t even a true picture of America. It’s only one aspect that is dramatically overplayed because the negative holds an audience far better than the positive.
Take a deep breath and look around. This is a great country. Look at your neighbors. Most of them, almost all of them, in fact, are wonderful people. Go say hello to some of them, smile, shake their hand and don’t even ask if they are a Republican or a Democrat. Just say hello and plant some seeds of friendship. That’s a great place to start.
When you drive down the interstate highway, think about the logistical miracle that has made that possible. You can hop in your car and drive from sea to shining sea on one of the superhighways that span our huge nation from east to west or north to south. That is just flat-out cool. We take the interstate highways for granted, but when you hop on there to go see family this Thanksgiving, just think what it would be like if you had to drive for hours and hours, perhaps days and days on two-lane roads through a string of small towns. Yeah, nice for a little scenic action, but terrible for covering long distances.
While you are out there on the highway, give thanks for the incredibly low gas prices. That’s right, I said give thanks. No matter how much you pay, it isn’t even close to what they are paying in Europe. We pay $0.95 per liter while our friends in England are paying $1.88 per liter. For those of you who are metric system challenged, there are 3.7 liters in one gallon.
As you sit down to your Thanksgiving feast, remember that we can eat like this pretty much anytime we want to, but there is another logistic miracle on your table. Each bit of food that you eat, unless it happens to have been home-grown, was grown, harvested, processed, packaged, and transported to your local grocer, no matter where in America that grocer is located, at an affordable price that puts the feast in the financial grasp of most of the nation’s population. And for those who can’t afford a Thanksgiving feast, innumerable organizations across America in small towns and big cities make the food available to the poorer among us free of charge so everyone can have a decent Thanksgiving.
We seldom pause to look back, but that first Thanksgiving in 1621, celebrated by about 50 Pilgrims and 90 natives from the Wampanoag tribe was a true celebration. They were alive. The Pilgrims were the survivors of their first year in America while the Wampanoag were also survivors of an epidemic that had wiped out much of their tribe. Many Pilgrims died in the first winter. Their rations brought from England did not last and the entire settlement might well have perished had it not been for natives teaching them how to fish and farm. The 1621 celebration followed their first successful harvest in this country.
We don’t usually have such hardships in our modern lives, but if you still need something to give thanks for, give thanks that we survived the COVID-19 pandemic. Many thousands did not. We are not at war. I am very thankful for that and pray that those who are at war will quickly find peace. In fact, a great way to remember just how much we have to be thankful for is to look around the world at Ukraine, Russia, Israel and Palestine and pray for those who are suffering under the cruelty of war. Many thousands of families on all sides are suffering the loss of loved ones and their homes because of the stupidity of people so far above their place in life that they have no control, no hope and little solace.
If all else fails, go deer hunting or just take a walk and breathe the fresh air. Give thanks you can have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink. Every time I stop to think about this country, I am overwhelmed with gratitude to be an American. I would not want to live in any other country in the world.
Gary Cosby Jr. can be reached at gary.cosby@tuscaloosanews.com
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Thanksgiving reminds us of America's greatness | GARY COSBY JR.
