Opus 2025-543: Thanksgiving Plus One

On our weekly Zoom call the old geezers got off on organ recitals.  It wasn’t about our organs but the struggles that others were going through.  It started with a young man related to a friend who was only 51 and was already facing a life of vigilance against infection.  It went on from their.  Often I would get bored but today it made me think of the people struggling in my church.  Instead of boredom I found myself being encouraged.

First, I am encouraged by the attitudes expressed by those suffering.  I won’t bore you with all the things shared at church but my awareness of the many things waiting to get me has vastly expanded.  At the same time the joy of the Lord is very apparent.  These people may not be able to “walk it off” but they will continue to walk in joy and the light of His presence.

Second, I was reminded of how blessed I am.  I am thankful on a daily basis.  Every time I go out to walk I thank God for another day of mobility, freedom from pain and the balance to make it safely down the stairs to the street.  This organ recital reminded me of how blessed I really am.  One of the topics that came up was falling.  I compared my recent wrestling match with the trash can on the way to the street to what they shared about people they knew.  I lost my match.  I went sprawling.  I hit the grass instead of the concrete and managed to miss all the rocks sticking up in our yard.  It still took me a month to get over the shake up.  That was a month of thanking my guardian angel.  I sometimes make him earn his paycheck.

Yesterday the nation stopped to be thankful.  We are only aware of the tip of the iceberg that represents our blessings.  Start to think about it.  Start to be thankful.  I hope you know the One that we are to be thanking.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-542: An Example of Attitude

It always amazes me how much difference the attitude chosen makes in facing life’s situations.

Let’s take something that has not happened yet, at least not this year, about an issue that I really couldn’t care a lot about.  Let’s say that as you gather together for Thanksgiving dinner, the family member who was assigned to bring the cranberry sauce arrived without his contribution.  As I said, this is not an issue for me since I never eat any of it.  It is, however, any issue for some people.

There are different ways that you can respond to this.  My way would be to try to establish it in family folklore.  This could be the year when Skesicks forgot the cranberry sauce.  The tale would grow better every year.  Details might vary, but the lack of that Red stuff would be central to all of it.  Dinner would proceed and a good time would be had by all.  Whether you never had him bring the important condiment again, or whether you made it his perpetual burden would be up to you as a family.

Some families have that one person who is personally offended by the lack of cranberry sauce.  Their life is ruined.  Thanksgiving will never be the same.  It isn’t Thanksgiving if you don’t have cranberry sauce.  They make sure that everybody knows how unhappy they are.  They belittle the person who forgot the sauce, not in a humorous, good natured way, but in that way which is designed to show how inferior they are.  We don’t have one of those in our family, but I’ve heard about them.  I hope none of our blood ever morphs into such a creature.

So attitude can make a big difference.  In both families, the cranberry sauce was not on the table.  One family made it an item of family bonding and legend creating.  The other made it a divisive and destructive issue.

I guess the key is that we have the choice of what our attitude is going to be.  We have the choice of whether this holiday season is an opportunity to build memories or a time of destroying bonds.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving.

And don’t forget that now we can say, “Merry Christmas.”

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-541: Thanksgiving Countdown

There are certain things that I can count on today.  It starts with getting up and being thankful, but that’s something that happens every day with me.  It’s part of my morning worship routine.  Thanksgiving day is wonderful, but it’s just where I take my habits and focus on them a bit more.

The next thing I have to do is make sure that I am out of the kitchen.  I don’t remember this being a problem when I was younger and more frisky, but at that point, my wife was younger and more frisky too.  In addition, the kids were there.  Now, she wants me out of the way.  So by this time I have already had breakfast I’m going to leave and settle into my corner.

Eventually, the smell of things cooking begins to float through the house.

Family begins to arrive.

We sit down around the table and begin our Thanksgiving rituals.  The one that stands out is the passing of the corn, or rather the corn container.  Each person finds two kernels of corn on their plate.  We go around the table twice and for each kernel as we put it in the basket, we are to be thankful for something.

And of course, then we actually eat.

And of course, the culmination of the eating is the desserts.

And then comes the final, awesome moment.  We can now turn on the Christmas music.  Thanksgiving isn’t really over, but the season of advent and the incarnation begins.

I thought it would never get here.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving and don’t forget to start saying, “Merry Christmas.”

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-403: The Down Side of Thanksgiving

I can share this now that the crisis is past.  At least it is past in my house.  One of the difficult conventions of Thanksgiving Day is the inviolate rule that Christmas music is toxic before dinner is over.  I know that seems like a small thing but so is a virus.

I found myself getting ready.  I had the MP3 player ready for the car.  I had a flash drive ready for my stereo.  I had a pile of CDs I picked up at thrift stores this year ready to be screened.  I am ready.  The problem is I find myself humming when I should be stoic.  For instance, I noticed that the first song on my MP3 is “The First Noel”.  I caught myself humming the melody.  I hope I caught myself in time to keep the curse from settling.

As you read this, assuming you did not just go take a nap after dinner, the crisis is over in my family.  Now begins a month of uplifting glorying in the Incarnation.  

It is worth the wait.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-329: A Lot of Questions

 Opus 2024-329:  A Lot of Questions

As I contemplate what we are learning about the destruction in Asheville, North Carolina, a lot of questions come to mind.  As I wander down this path I don’t want to take away from the tragedy of the wild rampage of the natural world.  People died.  Property was destroyed.  Those who survived have had the direction of their lives changed.  None of that should be mocked or belittled.

My mind always goes to “Why?”  Could the tragedy have been averted?  You can’t blame the hurricane.  It just did what hurricanes have to do.  It isn’t like Helene got up one morning and said, “This looks like an ideal day to reap carnage.”  There is a long list of natural events that have played out over time whether people were around or not.  Think of the question, “If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a noise?”  Unless you are a frog sleeping under a bush that does not matter.  The fact is the tree fell.  Hurricanes happen.  So do earthquakes, tsunamis, eruptions, droughts, floods and mosquitoes.  Think of Pompeii being buried by a volcano.  Think of the tidal waves and soot in the air cause when Krakatoa exploded.   None of them depend on the approval or preparation of humanity.

That part of “why” is a question for science.  It involves temperature, air pressure, solar flares and probably nature phenomenon that we don’t notice.  I has no moral component.  It is possible that something might be learned to reduce future danger but not enough to prevent it.

The human side of the equation is different.  Think of the Gulf coast or parts of California.  Natural disasters wipe out homes and business on a regular basis.  People rebuild in the same location.  Should I have sympathy for them?  In Southern California there is a large development in the foothills filled with very expensive real estate.  Such a thing is normal.  What does not seem to be considered is the location in a river bed that has been flooded repeatedly before.  Will the flood control work this time?  Or how about the people who build in the hills that are regularly swept by fires?

They say this was a hundred year or thousand year hurricane.  Does that justify the many homes that seem to have been located where water rages?  I find it hard to believe that everyone who had their home destroyed carefully thought out the location.  It was cute.  It was picturesque.  It was cheap

And what about the decisions to not be prepared?  I understand that you could have all the food and water stored that you might need and a flood could wash it down stream for someone else to use but I don’t think that is the problem for most of those in need.  Every once in awhile you read an article that talks about how little food and water people keep on hand.  If we were cut off we would have no concern about starving or dying of thirst.  Our diet might get boring but it would keep us alive.  Why?  Because we have planned ahead.

I read about people they were calling “disaster tourists” who were coming around to take selfies in the destruction.  If they can get in to take selfies, why can’t supplies be delivered?  There are a lot of unanswered questions.  I remember one that my students kept asking when we studied earthquakes, “How will you get home if the bridges are knocked down?”  The answer never seemed to occur to them:  I would walk.  While we wait for it to sort itself out pray for the genuine victims and if you know a reliable way to send help, do so.

And be thankful.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-282: Obligatory Thanksgiving Muse

We have a Thanksgiving tradition.  I don’t think it originated with us.  As we sit down to celebrate, each person finds two pieces of corn on the plate.  We pass a small basket around twice and each of us share something we are thankful for and drop in a kernel.  It is a good way to focus.

I would say I don’t need to focus.  Every morning is Thanksgiving for me.  It is hard to spend time contemplating the nature and goodness of God without crossing the line to thanks.  This morning my meditation turned to Philippians,

(Php 2:5-8 KJV)  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Then it went to the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us and becoming sin on our behalf.  If I wasn’t worried about waking up the neighbors I might have a shouting spell.  I like a bit of alliteration so I start the categories of my thanks with “G”.  Here it stand for Grace and Gospel.

It is similar to the perpetual Father’s Day I experience.  Often my daughter will take me shopping with her and the kids.  It becomes a celebration of grandchildren as I take over the cart and turn it into a race car or a bumper car.  At the end of the day I thank my daughter for a great Father’s Day.  I am thankful in the morning for the G of genetics, generations or genes.  

I could go on but you are getting too old to spend the time with my celebration.  It is a daily Thanksgiving.

I am going to try to start a new Thanksgiving/Advent tradition this year.  We have our Christmas light up and I want to start the habit of going out before the grandchildren go home and plugging them in to celebrate the start of the season of the incarnation.  There are not a lot of lights.  No one will be driving across town to see our display but it should be enough to impress our youngest if I let them try to plug things in.

Blessings on you as you count your grace gifts and celebrate the greatest gift of all.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-281: Thanks and Trust

I was thinking about God‘s way of providing in my life. When I left the pastoral ministry, one of the pressures was to feed my family. I questioned whether I was right and leaving the pastoral ministry. But even then God provided for us everything we needed, my children turned out great, and life is good in retirement. When I was pastoring on a shoestring, He provided. When I was teaching, God provided. When I retired I looked at the world around me and wonder how we’re going to make it.  Society is coming apart and I am getting too old to do many things that might need doing.  Inflation is growing daily but our income isn’t.

At the same time that the concern emerges it becomes clear that the same pattern will apply. God will provide. It doesn’t matter what the government does. It doesn’t matter about the social climate. God will provide.

That is something to be thankful for.  Trusting is a part of giving thanks.  Happy Trust Day.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-317: Thanksgiving +1

I was getting so blessed this morning I started to wonder what was wrong with me.  Surely, something must be wrong.  After reviewing my family, spiritual and physical rightness I decided I needed to spend a bit of energy wondering what was lacking.  I have a growing list:

I am not a millionaire.  Not yet anyway.  I have hopes that inflation may put me in that club.

I am not a Democrat.  That means I can’t just turn my brain off, believe everything The Party tells me and generally live off the hard work of others.  Bummer.  Life would be so much easier.

I am not 19 years old.  Of course that raises the question of whether I would want to be that young again.  I would have so little hindsight to guide me that it would be a very confusing condition.  I couldn’t say, “I told you so” near as much as I do now.

I don’t have a dacha outside Moscow, a ski lodge in Aspen or a bank account in the islands.

I don’t have a subscription to the L.A. Times.

I don’t need a hip replacement.  Yet.  Of course, there still may be time.

C/PM went out of business.  You don’t know what C/PM was?  It was awesome.

Hmmmm...  It does not seem to be working.  I still feel blessed.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-313: Blessing Portfolio

I had the joy of being invited for Thanksgiving and being able to say, “No.”  Actually, the question was, “What are you doing for Thanksgiving?”  I was able to run down the list of grandchildren and children.  It was a wonderful moment.

Think of it as taking an inventory of your blessing portfolio.  You always wonder if you have invested your life correctly.  I know as I have gone through the years there have been times when I had serious questions.  There have been times of doubt and even moments of despair.  Through it all I have pursued the goal of living by faith.

My portfolio shows a glorious return.

The numbers are not overwhelming.  I only have two grandchildren but what they lack in numbers they make up for in quality.  

I hope your life investments have paid off.  Have a blessed Thanksgiving.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-354: Thanksgiving Day, New Year’s Style

It is a good thing that I am not God.  If I were there would be lightening bolts flying everywhere.  
We know that God got rid of most of the human race with the flood.  In what must have been a moment of weakness He spared Noah and his family.  Later, out of the survivors, He chose Abram to be the father of a new nation which became Israel.  If you read the narrative of the Exodus and the travails of Moses as he tried to lead them to the Promised Land you will notice that Moses had to talk God out of destroying Israel and starting over.

This came to mind as I was reading in Psalms.

(Psa 95:8-11 NAS77) Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness; When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work.  For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways.  Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest."

These people had seen God work.  Remember the movie made on this called The Ten Commandments.  Remember the plagues.  Remember the Red Sea parting and then swollowing up the pursuing Egyptian army.  As you follow them through the wilderness you see miracle after miracle.  They were not just reading about them or watching a YouTube video.  They experienced it.  They knew He had taken care of them in the past yet they still complained or “hardened their hearts”

I tend to judge them a bit but then I stop and realize that we tend to do the same when we worry about current events.  Don’t tell me I am the only one who have moments so despair and discouragement.  I have struggled with depression over the years but by now you would think I have the blessing of hindsight.  I am afraid that my hindsight tends to need glasses.

So I give it glasses.  I have learned that if I give God the time of day when my mind is freshest and my heart is willing to listen then He meets with me and improves my vision.  I start with a bit of contemplation of the infinite nature of God.  Have you ever tried to wrap your arms around the concept of infinity?  It keeps slipping out of your range.  God understands it.  How about the creativity of God?  Look around at the complexity of creation.  Try to understand how a woman thinks.  Look at your grand children and be consumed with how wonderful they are.  

That brings me to thankfulness.  I have 365 Thanksgivings year, more if you count the afternoons when I am stopped in my tracks by a cloud formation or a memory.  When is the last time you thanked God for the people who picked your coffee?  If you don’t like coffee then pick something you do like.  Don’t be difficult.  

Does that mean that we close our eyes and ignore the corruption, perversion and fearmongering we are faced with daily?  Not on you life.  We have to engage and be involved.  We are not blind.  We are not allowed to be naive.  At the same time we are to be the sound of joy in a world that has become a wallowing pit.  We are to be the encouragement that makes them wonder what they are afraid of.  We are to be Jesus in a pagan world.

It is a fine path to follow that keeps our minds aware and our hearts encouraged.  We can do it.  It always amazes me how spending time listening to God through silence, reading and pondering can change my whole day.

Join me.  Don’t despair.  Rejoice.  Sing the Christmas carols, in or out of season.  Have another Thanksgiving.  Contemplate your blessings.  Look around and find someone who has more reason than you to give up and try to encourage them.

Now I am off to grind my coffee and get it set up for tomorrow.  Did I tell you about the guy who picks my coffee?  I did?  How about the lineman that keeps my electricity going?  It is going to be a blessed day.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-322: Still Brimming with Thanks

I am currently on the east coast getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Since I routinely begin each day with a time of thanks and praise this is not a novel experience but it is a great excuse to set aside other demands and focus on the blessings God has given me.  

I continue to ask God, “Why me?”  I ask it because of the blessings.  My children and grandchildren will gather with us in unity and harmony.  The grandchildren have opinions but those don’t count much.  My children are more conservative than I am.  They are walking in the faith.  It makes for pleasant conversations.  I don’t know why me but I am grateful in spite of it.

Remember that the point of Thanksgiving is that we know Whom to thank.  Knowing Him gives us a totally different understanding of what the future holds and a confidence that no matter how dark it gets we walk in the Light.

I hope that your Thanksgiving is blessed.

Grace and peace.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-315: Thanks Thoughts: Time for a Tune-Up

Now that we are past Reformation Sunday, to pagans that’s Halloween, we can start focusing on the real joys of this time of year:  Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Keeping things in order, I want to encourage you to get tuned up for Thanksgiving.

I hope that Thanksgiving is not the only day you are thankful.  Might I suggest a little tune-up, a little getting in shape?  I start each day with a time of praise and thanks.  The praise focuses on who God is.  Try contemplating a God who is overwhelming enough to keep each atom in the universe spinning and at the same time be a personal God that cares about you.  Thanks gets down to the way God has moved and sustained me and those I know.  It moves on to the long list of blessings that I walk through each day.  It takes some time to look around me and be thankful for what I see.  

One of our traditions on Thanksgiving Day is to pass out two kernels of corn to each person.  We then go around the table twice having people share specifics on what they are thankful for.  My biggest problem is there are so many things to be thankful for that you run out of corn.  Another is not repeating the great gratitude of others.  

A period of thanks and praise puts you into the position of remembering that you are not thanking the government, the party or Gaia.  You are, or should be, thanking God.  I keep hearing people talking about being thankful but rejecting the idea the God is the giver of all things.  I wonder where they are directing their thanks.

Keep in mind that it is not Turkey Day.  It isn’t Ham Day.  It isn’t Eggplant Parmesan Day.  It isn’t even Mom’s Best Casserole Day.  It is Thanksgiving Day.  It is Thanking God Day.  It is something that should not be only one day.

And of course after dinner you are cleared for take-off on the Christmas music.  Another thing to be thankful for.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-095: Reminders: #2, Why Me?

There are certain topics I have written about.  They are worth repeating.  I need to revisit them to refresh my memory and enhance my thinking.  Others need to be reminded.  There is a constant bombardment of ideas that clutter our minds.

Again I ask, “Why me?”

The country has been hit by a blast of Arctic air.  People have lost power and water.  I hear of one man who froze to death.  Millions have been struggling because the agencies tasked with preparation were asleep on the job.  I keep reading about all of the suffering.  It is real.

And I read about it in the warmth of a home that never lost power.  I read about it with a total time without water of about 23 hours.  I lost internet for an evening.  I had two pipes freeze.  The one that could have caused the most damage thawed out with no apparent damage.  The one over the garage doors blew out and spewed a lot of water.  No plumber would come.  The kid next door helped us get it under control.  

In the midst of all this my son left his in-town apartment because of the rolling black outs.  He works on line and could not do his job with the undependable power.  We had the joy of having him stay with us.  It was a win-win.  Yesterday we were able to open our home to some friends of his.  They came, did their laundry, had a hot meal and carted of six cases of bottled water.  We had the joy of being able to share and only felt bad that we had not known their problems earlier.

So again I say, “Why me?”  Why in the midst of a widespread disaster have me and mine been able to only suffer minor inconvenience?  Does God love us more than others?  I find that hard to believe.  I would like to think it is because we are more righteous but I know us better than to do more than laugh at the concept.

Why me?  I don’t know but I am thankful to be so blessed and pray that your suffering will end soon.  

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-288: On a More Positive Note

In spite of my last post I am filled with gratitude.  I don’t wait until the last Thursday in November to be thankful.  It is part of my morning routine every day.  I have mentioned it in the past.  Providence trumps politics.  I believe that.

One of the realities of thanks is that it is not dependent on today’s situation.  It is based on an eternal view of life.  It is rooted in a fear of the Lord that accepts that His ways are mysterious.  It is based on faith, not only for salvation but for the daily walk.

Down through history there have been times of persecution and suffering.  It is in those times that people are reminded that their destiny does not depend on the favor of the king but the grace of the King.  The censors may remove Thanksgiving from the Calendar but they can never remove it from the hearts of believers.

Happy Thanksgiving.  Rejoice.  Be glad.  Be thankful.  Read the Book and find out who wins.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-287: Thanksgiving Coup

We have a major coup going on.  I don’t refer to the one against that president.  That is old news going back four years.  I refer to the coup against Thanksgiving.

This attempt to get rid of Thanksgiving did not start with edicts by governors across the nation.  That is just the latest stage.  It began back before Halloween.  You may not have noticed but the stores generally jumped over Thanksgiving and started with the Christmas offerings before October 31.  There were a few napkins and such but Thanksgiving was pretty much ignored.

The reason is that Thanksgiving is hard to have without an innocent at dinner wondering who or what we are supposed to be thanking.  That is an embarrassing question in a culture that rejects creation and embraces evolutionary chance.  It is kind of silly to be thankful when there is no one to thank.  For the tree hugger crowd I guess they can thank Gaia and I remember stories where an Indian who shot a deer would thank the deer for giving its life but that is not quite what we are talking about.

Rejecting Thanksgiving means rejecting the traditional picture of Pilgrims who came to the new world to worship as they chose.  It ignores repeated calls by presidents for a nation to be thankful to, drum roll please, God.  It is necessary for a group of secularists who want to make man the measure of all things and who assume they are the best men to measure.  It reminds us that the government, in all its wisdom, is better at shielding us from a virus than Almighty God.

So for Thanksgiving you are to be like Little Jack Horner and when you eat your pie by yourself you are to remind yourself of what a good boy you are.  

One reason the Progressives* are willing to move on to Christmas is that they have been neutering it for years.  They have been banning nativity scenes, Christmas plays and genuine carols for years.  They have that well in hand.

So for those of you who know whom you are thanking this year I encourage you to rejoice in the day and celebrate Thanksgiving to God.  Next year it may be removed from the calendars.

*(Liberals, educators, socialists, communists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, etc)
 

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-392: The Traditional Post

Sometimes there are two sides to our thanks.  I am thankful that Hillary is not president.  To my surprise, I am thankful that Trump is. 

I am thankful for a room in which I can’t hear the sound of a television.

I am thankful that the aches and pains I feel are all due to getting old and are within the range of annoying rather than crippling.

I am thankful that, as of yesterday, my children are still speaking to me.  And of course I am glad I still want them to speak to me.

I am thankful that so far I have seen the scorpions before they have seen me.

I am thankful that I have everything I need even if I don’t have everything I want.  And I am thankful that I know the difference.

The list could go on but you have family, friends and chores. 

Happy Thanksgiving and may your list be long enough to bore others.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-390: Thanksgiving Countdown: Those Evil Pharmaceutical Companies

Are you thankful for the bounty of medications that are readily available?

What stirred this was the little red blood thinner I just took.  When I was paying the co-pay they cost around $14.00 a pill.  With Medicare D they still cost about $8.00 a day.  I understand that is cheap in relation to some drugs people are taking.  But you know what, I could probably live a long time without them.  The danger of not having this medication is statistical, not definite.  Yours could be literally life giving.

What about the things that are not expensive?  How about all the generic, over the counter remedies that we have?  I just took some ibuprofen for a day.  I don’t know if I have ever done that before but my joints were getting sore and I am getting old.  It was cheap.  It helped.  It was a miracle that the Founding Fathers might have written into the Bill of Rights if they had known.

I know that some people can only see the profit that the drug companies make.  They don’t see the billions that go into research.  They don’t see the billions that go into lawyers and insurance.  They don’t see the free drugs given to people in need.

Does greed exist?  You betcha.  Keep in mind, and be thankful, that the greed of profit is what may bring a cure to cancer, HIV and even the common cold.  Poor people are also greedy.  If you don’t believe it, watch the news on Black Friday and observe people being trampled to death at your local Walmart when they open the doors.  They aren’t looking for miracle cures.

And be thankful that you don’t need to be in that mob.

Happy Thanksgiving.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-388: Thanksgiving Countdown: An Exercise

Some mornings when my brain is extra flaky I have a hard time being thankful.  I have a little exercise that helps me zero in on how God is providing for us.

Take any object you have used without thinking and trace it back in the process of production.  Thank God for the hands and skills that went into the final product.  Don’t use your computer, that is too easy.  Pick something really common like the chair you are sitting in.

For instance I have an insulated cup filled with coffee on the desk beside me.  I am mindful that somewhere in the world there is a person who picked the beans and others who processed them on their way to market.  There are many people of varied skills that went into the roasting.  A whole string of people were involved in making the grinder I used and delivering the clean water to my house.  You can go on this way for as long as you have time.  The list of semi-miracles required to get a simple beverage is awesome. 

So be thankful.  I am sure that when you are in the groove you will be reminded of some really awesome blessings that are a bit more significant than a cup of coffee.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-386: Thanksgiving Countdown: Thank-list

Lack of gratitude it our default.  We take our blessings for granted.  Think of all the people who do things for you on a regular basis and don’t expect a “thank you.”  When was the last time you thanked someone for doing your laundry or were thanked for washing their dishes?  I don’t remember anyone showing that they appreciated me walking quietly through the house when they were trying to sleep or leaving the music turned off until they were up.  Thankfulness is a state of mind that needs to be stirred up, thus Thanksgiving Day.

Part of that is familiarity.  We get used to things and take them for granted.  How many times have you seen someone thanked for doing what you do all the time?  Maybe if we thought about all the little things we do for others it might help us see examples of them doing for us.

So play like you are Santa Claus.  Start a list.  Check it twice.  See if you have been naughty or nice.  Then use the list to find someone to thank.  Maybe you could even thank someone for doing a small thing for someone else.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-385: Headlines: Mugabe Out, Mnangagwa In, Maybe

Have you noticed how America lives in the ostrich bubble.  We are so caught up in our own soap opera that we forget there is a world going on out there.  Today there was a reminder of why we should be glad to live in America, at least until the Progressives are in total control.

The Daily Signal had a headline that used two names that many Americans probably think is a bit of cuisine from a local ethnic food joint:  Zimbabwe and Mugabe.  For those who were sleeping in my history classes, Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in southeast Africa.  It used to be called Rhodesia and was known as the breadbasket of Africa.  When it gained independence and took over the farms owned by whites it began a move that has brought it to the point of poverty, starvation and violence.  The man most responsible for this is the 40 year dictator Robert Mugabe.

As the headline tells you, he has been removed by a military coup. 

That might be considered good but you need to read the article to be glad you are American.  The military has been hand in hand with Mugabe until recently.  Since he was no longer doing things their way, they removed him. 

This is not really great news.

“However, there are no guarantees that whoever ultimately replaces Mugabe will be a significant improvement.”

One of the names submitted to be the new kingpin is Emmerson Mnangagwa.  His nickname is “the Crocodile” and he has also been involved in massacres and other pleasant pastimes.

So Africa is being Africa.  Petti-dictators are being replaced by petti-dictators.  The people of Zimbabwe continue to starve and be murdered. 

Think about that next time someone calls Trump a Hitler or you get mad at our military.

This should go on your list of things to be thankful for.

homo unius libri