Thanksgiving

Another one has come and gone. But the spirit of "thanksgiving" is something that in all actuality might be best expressed on a  daily basis. At least for some of us.

My wife and I enjoy watching "The Great American Race" on television Sunday evenings. Most recent episodes have been located in Africa. Whether by design or not, the contestants have been in some of the poorest areas in the country - not the worst - but the poorest. Watching their reactions and gauging my own, has reminded me that I have a great deal to be thankful for.

I do not have to select my food from an open market and swat the flies away before selecting my fish. I do not have to walk through open sewers or garbage in the streets to get to my home or the neighbors home, if you would call those shanties "homes".  I don't have to barter goats or chickens, or travel by bicycle or squeeze my way onto a broken down bus, or cook on an open fire, or worry about the roof leaking when it rains, or....

Yes, I have a great deal to be thankful for. But where or to whom, do I direct my thanks?

• Is it because my ancestors made it to America and theirs did not
• Is it because my government is better than theirs
• My "job" more profitable than theirs
• Our economy more prosperous
• I am blessed and they are cursed - (they are the ones that always seem to be smiling)

Of course, they are on one continent and I am on another, so some of this whole thing is a result of pure circumstance and indeed ancestry. Nevertheless, when I look at their circumstances and I look at mine, I want to say "thank you". 

As a theist, I can say "thank you" and my you is directed to God. But if it were an agnostic or an atheist, who or what do they thank. Perhaps their "you" is directed toward Darwin or some great thinker of the past.  Perhaps it is directed inward. Perhaps their thanksgiving is a thanks to the forces of random chance. Or do they simply say "thanks" and let it go at that? 

"Thanks" is a word that cries out for a noun or a pronoun. Whether we voice it or simply think it, I suspect everyone assigns something to it.  Nevertheless, I give thanks.