Celebrate Thanksgiving Early!

What about celebrating Thanksgiving early this year? No need to reiterate all the reasons why not. Even since last Thanksgiving, the mood of cynicism has taken on epidemic proportions. Yet, through it all, most who read this column are inordinately blessed. Sure, there are craters of despair, potholes of misfortune, dead ends, cul de sacs and roads to nowhere. Sure, it will be, according to those who prognosticate about such things, a good while before we will, if ever, see a return to Coolidge's famous "normalcy."Things have happened so fast, it appears the world is turning now on a different axis. The outcome is without predictability and full of uncertainty.

So, now, in the midst of all this disarray, crumbling social, economic and world wide instability, the most likely thing we can do, is look for something that offers encouragement.

I suggest these:

+ We are still alive. Breath and heartbeat are two of life's daily gifts we too often take for granted.

+We are still experiencing the rising and setting of the sun each day.

+The God most worship is still in his/her world offering some kind of spiritual solace.

+For those with families, their presence still represents one of the most cherished gifts of all.

+For those with good health, that remains the number one reason to be thankful.

+For those who still have employment, of course, you are among the most fortunate.

+For those without a job and without prospects for one, the support of others becomes all the more critical and necessary.

+For those who think life is still moving along reasonably well, be thankful.

+For those who are overcoming blind self-centeredness and beginning to discover ways to care about and for others, you are truly blessed.

Between now and Thanksgiving, start and keep your own list why Thanksgiving, 2008, will be critically important and a major celebration in your life. Use that list on Thanksgiving Day by passing it around and having each person read one line from it as a part of the Thanksgiving Grace. At the end of that exercise, pause, and in silence or aloud have each person express one thing they are thankful for. It won't take long... the football game can wait... and this will likely be the most nourishing part of your Thanksgiving Holiday.