No Thank You

I am officially not reading anything published today because everything is bound to include the phrase "thankful for." If you need to have a special day designated to be thankful for what you have, you are living an emotionally deprived life. Every day brings things to be thankful for (and irritated by and attracted or offended by and lots of other things) and if you're missing them it's kind of sad. It's like Tom Lehrer's classic line in his song "National Brotherhood Week," which he first rhymes with "National Everyone Smile at One Anotherhood Week" and then concludes, "It's only for a week so have no fear, be grateful that it doesn't last all year."

I guess I'm particularly sensitive to this post-strike, because I missed doing what I do every day, while simultaneously gaining a whole new affection for the people I was striking with. Everybody deserves to have something or someone uplift them every day, but no matter how deserving you are, if you don't recognize or appreciate it, it's as if it's not there.

So instead of meditating on what you're thankful for today, make yourself a promise to be thankful for something every day. This is actually kind of scary, because it requires you to open your heart and open your mind at least a little bit. Maybe it'll be like a New Year's resolution and you'll forget it in a week, but maybe it'll feel good enough that you'll keep at it.