A National Day of Thanksgiving

Greetings from the Left Coast! Holy smoke, I can't believe it's been two weeks since my last entry! Just when I think things can't possibly get busier, they do.

No political rants today. Somehow it doesn't seem appropriate. Maybe I'll get back to that tomorrow. For now, as I sit here in front of my computer looking out the window (Hugo Montenegro had it right - the bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle), I just feel profoundly thankful for many, many things.

• I am thankful that I live in the United States of America. No country that has ever existed in the history of man has ever been blessed with such abundance, and in turn given as much back to the world, as this one.
• I am thankful that I was blessed with parents who raised me in a Christian home, and imparted to me spiritual values that have always served as my foundation.
• I am thankful for my beautiful wife of 22 years. She is a source of strength to me as well as my best friend, and I love her with all my heart.
• I am thankful that, between us, we managed to raise five children who have all turned out to be responsible adults, three of them now with children of their own.
• I am thankful that we are both blessed with good health, and the opportunity to work at building businesses around things that we love doing.
• Despite the many difficulties of our time, I am thankful to be living now. The technology that enhances our lives was the stuff of science fiction not that long ago. And speaking of technology...
• I am thankful for the gift of sight. Just over six months ago, after having worn corrective lenses since the fourth grade, I went from not being able to read the big "E" to near-perfect vision. The procedure took about 15 minutes, and was done with small pulses of light. I still find this concept to be wonderful in the literal sense of the word.

This morning, I was reading the text of Abraham Lincoln's original proclamation of a National Day of Thanksgiving back in 1863. I was struck by several parallels with our own situation today: In 1863, we were a nation at war - although the war was on our own continent, not halfway around the world. The nation was deeply divided over that war, and Lincoln himself was under considerable fire because the war was not going particularly well. But read and ponder, if you will, his words:

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict...Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship...and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God...It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

We are blessed, as no other nation that has ever existed on the face of this planet has been blessed. And, in turn, the world has been blessed through us, regardless of what some may say. When natural disasters strike around the world, who do people turn to for help? The good old USA...and we always give it - in amounts far greater than any other nation. (Not, by the way, just in total dollars, but pretty much any way you want to measure it.) Foreign aid? We hand it out by the billions, even to countries who continually turn and bite the hand that feeds them. Technological innovations, advances in medical science, advances in food production, I could go on and on about the things that we have shared with the world - things that exist because of our system of government that encourages innovation and investment. We are not perfect, but reaching for that goal is part of that indefinable thing called "The American Spirit," and it has led to a nation composed, for the most part, of good and decent people with a generous nature who care about helping others.

Let us be truly thankful, and may God continue to bless the United States of America. Thanks for listening.