Open Thanksgiving Letter to Those Celebrating(and anyone else who wants to read it)

Dear Fellow Turkey eaters,
As we get ready to celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving, I think we can all agree on how important it is to  recognize those things we should be grateful for. Sure we have problems, and the future is sometimes scary, but as a country we’ve been rather fortunate, and for that we should be thankful.

Even with the increased importance in being diligent and alert in the wake of increased terror attacks throughout the world, we must acknowledge how fortunate we have been to live in the free society that is the United States of America.  Granted it is not always as free as it should be, and there are some tragic examples of how we still need to evolve, but when you look at the overall picture we’re still in pretty good shape.

Even with its flaws, and it unquestionably has many, the United States of America is still one of the greatest countries this planet has ever seen.  Yes we need to grow.  There are still serious racial problems to overcome. The whites and blacks of this great country have come too far to allow a small percentage of people to mess up decades of progress, but if the issues are ignored they will only get worse.  That being said, there are so many examples. in public and in private lives of the equality of all Americans that to ignore it would be a tragedy in and of itself.

We have economic issue to overcome.  Too many people are either hungry or struggling for their next meal.  But we still do better in feeding our people than so many other nations, and although we are sometimes desensitized and turn a blind eye to the needy, we still recognize that a problem exists.

What am I getting at?  We are clearly a flawed country with significant problems, but that doesn’t mean we’re not a great one.  That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be very thankful for all the great opportunities living in this  US of A provides us. And most importantly that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t cook a turkey, watch football, drink plenty ,eat a great meal with people we care about, and say a prayer for those not as fortunate as we are.  If anything it’s exactly why we should.

I wish you all a safe, happy and healthy Thanksgiving.

Sincerely,

David Groen