Thanksgiving Wishes and Thoughts

To everyone who is traveling to be with family this Thanksgiving, may your travels be safe and the time spent with relatives and loved ones happy and fulfilling.   Make every minute count and avoid unnecessary conflicts.  Life is a fragile thing and we never know how much time is left, or when our next encounter with family, friends, and acquaintances may be our last.

We should all take a moment and count the Blessings we have living in the greatest Country in the world.  Most of us our blessed with adequate food, clothes, and shelter.  We have family, friends, and loved ones to share our time with.  We can travel freely and speak our minds.  We can choose to worship God in any way we wish, or choose not to believe One exists.

When I was a youngster more time was spent on Thanksgiving, there was little to no Black Friday activities, but Friday after Thanksgiving was meant to spend more time with family and friends.  It has taken a half-Century of life to figure out why there is the push to glaze over this really important day.  See things that bother me deeply include Christmas Decorations and music before Thanksgiving.  It seems like some Christmas stuff starts coming out in conjunction with Halloween.  Perhaps the reason that there is not an over commercialization of Thanksgiving is because decorations are not necessary.  All that is required is a gratitude of having the the essentials to sustain life: food, water, simple clothing, and shelter.  At a bit of a higher level a Community that shared the bounty of the earth and offered a sense of protection and purpose.  The problem from the modern consumption point of view is this " If you practice gratitude and Thanksgiving everyday, this leads to feelings of love and contentment.  When you are experiencing love and contentment your awareness and focus are honed in laser sharp on the things that really matter.  The things that really matter can not be manufactured, bought, and sold.  They are freely given one to another.  The result is Black Friday would lose all importance as a major shopping day.  We have all that we need and it is within and can't be bought out there."  ( The quote is my own words and thoughts.  It is the way that I would imagine some defining the "problem" of practicing gratitude daily.)

God Bless us all.