Thanksgiving

It is the season of Thanksgiving. It is the season in which women spend days cooking meals that are consumed in fifteen minutes. It is the season of endless dishwashing while men watch football. Of course there are those wonderful husbands that do the dishes, or as a last resort, teenagers will do; but they seem rare. It is a season in which often women are able to see beauty and hope. I hope that for my friends and family, especially the women (and all women), that Thanksgiving is exactly that, a time for giving thanks. Despite whatever ails your life, if anything, for most of us there is much to be grateful for. One thing we have learned, as we grow older, is that gratitude is the cure for self-pity, it is an important ingredient in fighting depression and it is what restores us to a sense of possibility and hope. When I find myself mired in routine and unable to think beyond the grind of the day, meals, work, bills, homework, gratitude can restore me to a sense that anything is possible. When I was young, anything was always possible, we know that we don't feel that way all the time anymore. Gratitude allows us to see how lucky we are when there are children starving and women enslaved and those who are not free to worship. Gratitude allows us to see how far we have come in our lives, how much has been possible. So...as you are washing your dishes, or cooking your turkey, look around and marvel at your life, your family, your friends, your freedom, and be grateful.