From now until January its a season of lists. Shopping lists, Christmas lists, lists of new year’s resolutions, grocery lists all surround us and keep us going. There have been lists of things for which we should be thankful on this most American of Holidays. You know the drill, family, country, the good Lord, our abundance, health, a winning season for the home team, that new car…some deeply spiritual, others cloaked in humor.
Most management types tell us that the best way to handle a task is to break it down into its smallest parts and then start with them. It takes the overwhelming project and gives it some perspective. With this approach you can also prioritize and quickly see which parts of the new assignment grows from others. I wondered what would happen if one took all the lists above and limited the number of items one could put on them.
I decided to try it with Thanksgiving. Consider that list above — virtually all of it grows from one thing. The fact that we as individuals can create whatever we want in life. We can make decisions that affect US and then can proceed to grow to our abilities.
There are places on earth where worshiping the "wrong" God can be a death sentence, places where families are torn asunder by prejudice and hatred, places where even minimal health care is a dream. There are places, and a lot of places, where hard work and sacrifice mean nothing.
For me, then, I whould give thanks to all those who came before me in America that created a place where anyone, assuming they had drive, determination, and made the right choices in life, could become successful and happy.
Were they perfect, of course not. But they created the longest running constitutional democracy on the planet and the most free and prosperous one.
There are those who decry our country, our government, and in fact the very lives we lead. However the fact that they can do so without retribution is part of what makes us strong. You can support anyone you want for leadership positions, any belief system, any policy and as long as you don’t impinge on others, you are free to lead your life any way you want.
This country has developed an unwritten social code that simply says that we have put up a few rules and if you follow them, work hard, get educated, you will be successful. Period. Look around you, those that aren’t successful have broken a few rules, abandoned education, or have decided that hard work is not for them. Think about it.
We should give thanks for the country that allows the free market to work, and lets those who "can" do, and those who "can’t or won’t" still have the greatest lifestyle and abundance on the planet.
What this means is that because of the structure ( or sometimes lack of it ) of our country, we succeed or fail by our own abilities and our own goals. If I want to take a cut in pay and teach, and follow that dream, I can do so. If I decide I would rather take a job where I get a higher pay, but the risk for the future is greater, it’s there, too. Or if I want to sit back and blame others for my failure, I have the right to do that, too.
So this Thanksgiving, the focus of my thanks is on a country that let dirt poor folks from the Ozarks who decided to change their lives, and through hard work and sacrifice, in less than a generation, were comfortable, well off, and provided a foundation for their offspring to take even further steps in happiness, success, and personal comfort.
Its not a unique story, its replayed daily, everywhere in our country. The immigrant next door whose kids are engineers, architects, and yes one neer do well but every family has them. The family who started in the dust bowl and now has the comfortable shop in Monterey. The college nerd who became the richest person in the world. None of this based on family wealth, or peerage, but on hard work, playing by the rules and education. Where else can you almost guarantee that by following those three things you will be successful.
I’m thankful that my country provides the canvas on which I can paint, and the freedom to pick the colors.
How about you, when you break it down, what single thing is the most important to you today? A strong position can be held for the good Lord, for good health, for strong and vibrant children, and the rest. That’s what makes us great. Differing opinion, differing outlooks, and even differing definitions of just what "success" and "happiness" is.
All the best — and eat as much turkey, or ham, or pasta, or tamales, or whatever abundance fits your table as you like. You deserve it, at least once a year.
Happy Thanksgiving.
JVH
