Categories:
Growth: Consequences
We’re t-minus 90 minutes from driving to my grandmother-in-law’s house on the other side of Birmingham for our first Thanksgiving celebration of the day. For what are you thankful? Here are two things on my “Thankful” list:
1. Hot Showers. I marvel at how the opportunities for basic hygiene we take for granted were out of reach of virtually everyone not that long ago.
2. The opportunity to take a job at Samford and move to Birmingham last year. Having our kids in the same town as their grandparents has been absolutely amazing.
READER COMMENTS
Jack PQ
Nov 28 2013 at 12:51pm
I have also left a position to take up another in a city where my parents live, and they are over the moon about seeing the grandchildren (three of them!) so often.
I am also fortunate that the new job was overall about as good as the old one (better pay but more work, so it’s a wash).
I think we should also be thankful to live in a country where, despite sometimes huge political disagreements, nearly everyone is civilized and non-violent. A peaceful and lawful society (warts and all) is a remarkable achievement considering all of human history so far.
Chris Koresko
Nov 28 2013 at 4:56pm
George Washington said it pretty well:
Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be– That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks–for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation–for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war–for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed–for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted–for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.
Jon Murphy
Nov 29 2013 at 6:26pm
Being the only overtly religious person in my family, I am always asked to lead the dinner prayer at Thanksgiving. As I was writing the prayer, I found it difficult to name everyone and everything we should be thankful for.
Then I stumbled upon a rather helpful phrase that became the shortest prayer in my history:
We are thankful for the untold millions who work together to make our lives better every day.
Matt Bramanti
Dec 1 2013 at 10:08pm
Grocery stores. Just your plain ordinary Kroger or HEB, Publix, Ralph’s or what-have-you.
My wife does most of the grocery shopping, and she sees it as a chore, which it can be with a four-year-old and a baby in tow.
But when I get to do it, it’s a joy. I’ll spend an hour going down every aisle and marveling at what’s available to me. I’m nobody special — just another middle-class guy in an okay suburb, and the caesars didn’t have the breadth and quality that I can get whenever I want. I counted 19 varieties of Greek yogurt, more than 100 movies, wines from Chile, South Africa and Australia.
All I can think is “Thank God for this.”
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