Be thankful for every day

Here’s a modest proposal: Instead of having one Thanksgiving, why don’t we have 365 a year? And an extra one during leap years.

Crazy? Not really.

If you stop to think about it, each of us has an abundance to be thankful for every single day.

You woke up this morning? Be thankful for that.

The earth is still spinning on its axis? Be thankful for that.

The sun shines, the rain falls, the wind blows and the seasons continue their march? Be thankful for that.

Leaves change in a riot of color each fall, winter dazzles and spring erupts just in time to give our spirits a lift. Be thankful for all of that.

You live in a country that hasn’t seen the ravages of war within its borders for generations. You live in a country that — in spite of itself sometimes — still guarantees its citizens’ remarkable freedoms of speech, of expression, of religion and of assembly. There are no thought police.

You live in an era of rapid and continuing technological advancement, sometimes advancement that is so rapid it’s dizzying. Medical research involving non-embryonic stem cells — to list just one example from dozens — is poised to transform the landscape. Conditions we now think of as inevitable, like Parkinson’s, are likely to be curable within our children’s lifetimes.

Are there offsetting anxieties? Sure there are.

But there always have been.

But on this balance sheet, assets have always outstripped the liabilities.

So be thankful tomorrow, but also be thankful the day after that and the day after that and on and on. — J.R.