Everyday we’re inundated with world news headlines regarding the escalating fight against ISIS (the Sunni jihadist extremist group active in the Middle East), the Ebola virus outbreak, the Ukraine/Russia crisis, the scary spreading of the D68 enterovirus and, even scarier, the mass media’s relentless coverage of all things Rob and Doug Ford.
Come to think of it, I don’t know if I’m more scared of the news that’s being covered or the way the news is being covered; but that’s a story for another time.
As we head into another Thanksgiving weekend we are asked to sit and reflect on the many things that we can be thankful for. To me, we should do this pretty much every day but, when forced, many will have to do it at least once a year. And that time is now.
It should go without saying but looking at the above headlines I am very happy and thankful for this little piece of the planet where I live. No war, no famine, no Ebola…yet; ditto regarding the D68 enterovirus, but, for the most part, we’ve got it pretty good around here in spite of the poor harvest weather and some recent local criminal behaviour. I am thankful to be living in clean, comfortable and safe Kipling, Saskatchewan, Canada.
I am thankful that we are heading into one of the best times of the year to be a sports fan. I know, I know, you regular readers of this column are going to be getting bored with this stuff already but, c’mon…the Major League Baseball playoffs are in full swing right now and the World Series is right around the corner, the puck is dropping on a brand new National Hockey League Season and my Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t lost a game, yet, or spun themselves out of a playoff birth, or anything, and the final crucial games are being played in the Canadian Football League with the ‘Riders in shaky shape, because of the loss of quarterback Darian Durant, but they are still in a solid playoff position as we speak. For this sports fan there is a lot to be thankful for.
I am thankful that we don’t have a foot of snow on the ground. I am thankful that Highway 48 was finally paved giving me a smooth ride all the way to work. I am thankful for the new integrated health facility and I am grateful for the many health care workers providing excellent care to area residents. I am thankful that my health is pretty darn good for an old feller, if I say so myself.
I am thankful that Saskatchewan isn’t threatened by earthquakes or tsunamis or hurricanes or volcanoes or brush fires or mud slides and that the worst natural disasters that we might see around these parts could be the occasional tornado or some spring flooding or maybe the odd drought.
I am grateful to be part of a large family, or families, as it were. I am happy to be a partner in a still-happy-thirty-three-year-old marriage. I am happy and thankful that we have three great kids, a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law and four wonderful grandchildren.
As earlier stated, we shouldn’t have to wait until the Thanksgiving weekend to vocalize what we can be thankful for but if that’s what it takes then let’s all take a few moments during the upcoming holiday weekend to remind ourselves of some of the little, or big, things in our life that we can truly be thankful for.
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”-William Arthur Ward (1921-1994).
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