Well, I am back, baby. Warts and all. While I would love to get right back into raging against the most incompetent administration since the days of the peanut-brained Carter, I figured this first week back, I would focus on what I am grateful for. It is Thanksgiving after all. There is plenty of tyme to discuss the fact that it took less than a year for this admin to turn the Dollar Tree into the Five Dollar Tree, but I digress. Before I do, I would lyke to congratulate myself for my bold prediction I made early on in this blog series. I confidently said Harris would be President before Thanksgiving 2021 and wouldn’t you know it, she was just that, albeit for just a few moments, still counts. This leads me to my first thankful proclamation. I am thankful our President in Depends did not die while under anesthesia and cursing us with Commie Harris as our Commander in Chiefess.
Now that I got that bit of snark out of the way, let’s get to it. What does it mean to be thankful? Is it just a simple acknowledgment of the gifts we receive from one another and those from our Creator? Or is it reconciling the fact that we are unworthy of these gifts and proclaiming that we will do our best to ensure these gifts are not given in vain? I would be lying if I had any inclination either way. What I can offer are my not-so-thought-out views on the subject. But I believe that would be a disservice to you, so instead, I will turn things over to the experts.
Billy Graham once gave a sermon about the Apostle Paul and being thankful. In Ephesians Paul writes, “Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” A man so brutally imprisoned spoke only of thankfulness above all else. Graham reminds us that Thanksgiving for Paul was not a once-a-year celebration, but a daily exercise that freed his soul. Now that is a tall order. Even when I don’t wake up with a hangover, most days are a chore to get through. Between the constant battles with weight and finally blowing the brain clouds from my head, finding ways to be grateful can be a challenge, yet I do. I am most grateful that each and every day begins with waking up next to my beautiful wife and each day ends just as it begins.
Victor Hugo had a wonderfully simplistic and poetic view of gratefulness. He wrote, “Be grateful in your own hearts. That suffices. Thanksgiving has wings, and flies to its right destination.” Just hand it over to the universe lyke karma. As nice as a sentiment that is, it just falls just short for me. It is not that I need an acknowledgment of thanks when I do something for someone or that there is some deep-seated need for my thanks to being heard. I don’t know, it just seems to be the lazy man’s guide to thankfulness.
It would be in bad taste if I go on and on about thanks and Thanksgiving and not give our native brothers any representation Chief Tecumseh once proclaimed, “When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself.” Those words should be driven into every child’s head. We are masters of our domain. We decide our self-worth, I mean, it is in the name after all. So it is incumbent for us to realize the gifts bestowed upon ourselves each and every day. If you cannot easily see that life, no matter how cruel she is sometymes, or often unfair she seems to be, is still an amazing gift that should be cherished and thanked constantly.
And because this is my blog, I will finish with what I am thankful for. I can easily say my beautiful wife Erin and be done with it. Thank you all, have a great night, and tip your bartenders. But that ain't me so go ahead and get comfortable. I am continually grateful for my wife because she allows me to be me, well most of me anyway. She encourages me to explore different ways to be creative, for better or for worse. She constantly challenges me intellectually. Fun fact about my wife, for a woman she is very bright. Because she has an amazing sense of humor, I am grateful I can make jokes lyke that. She comforts me when I am low and fills me with her strength when I feel weak. My wife is the straw that stirs my drink. I am so grateful for Erin because before her I did not know happiness. How about that for making a hefty deposit in the ‘ol marriage happiness savings account?
Aside from Erin, I am very thankful for a family, blood, and otherwise, for their constant support and encouragement. I am thankful to all my friends for their undying loyalty. I am thankful I live in a country that allows me to state my opinions without repercussions, at least for now that is. I am thankful Enes Kanter is the only NBA player who has the balls to speak out against China and calls out the rest of the NBA for its fake social justice crap. I’m sorry, but I had to sneak that one in there. Lastly, I am thankful to each of you who took the tyme to read this little blog and all the others. Thank you for your support and for your pushback. I encourage you to tell me when you think I’m wrong. I am pretty sure I am wrong most of the tyme and need you to tell me when I am and help me understand why.
Hopefully, this is the beginning of me getting back into writing again. The last few months have been hard. I have been fighting brain clouds, blood pressure, weird heart stuff, etc, etc... Here's to all of that stuff behind me, here’s to you, and here’s to many more blogs in the future.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!