I just want anyone who comes by this site today to see a few positive and thankful words. My first thoughts were that my feelings lately are not so much thankful as hopeful. But on a more human level, I have much to be thankful for and so do most who will read this. Maybe just a short reflection is appropriate.

Most of us - myself included - tend to take the gifts we have as normal and not extraordinary. Yet, for most people in the world these are only dreamed of or hoped for gifts.

We have health and our minimally decent health care system is there for us. We have a roof, warmth in our abodes, more than enough food to sustain us and comforts like furniture and comfortable beds. Oh the number of people who approach each and every night trying to find a secure or semi comfortable place to sleep.

Then there is the luxury most of us have with jobs, discretionary spending money, free time for lazy activities, changes of clothes, the ability to bathe and wash our clothes, and for most of us, a vehicle for doing errands and travel. Many in our community do not have all or some of these.

We kid ourselves if we think we have earned our gifts and that others without these basic middle class gifts simply deserve their status. We are lucky in what we have. And in this year of our economic system going into chaos we can well appreciate some of them a bit more.

So today I'm thankful that I will have a fine feast with friends and relatives this afternoon and hopeful that we will all be able to work towards the same a year from now. We are learning that these gifts are not to be taken for granted. And we can also work to extend these gifts to more people because all people deserve them.