Thanksgiving comes but once a year

It's funny to me how big a deal we make about Thanksgiving.  I suppose a few perfectly timed factors help add to the excitement, e.g. the accumulation of rivalry and other important college football matchups, and the sense that once this holiday's out of the way, Christmas cheer and decorations can unashamedly run rampant in our lives.

But the main components of the celebration -- family, food, and being thankful -- can pretty much be staples of our lives if we want them to be.  And while most of us will by necessity have our share of family and food whether we want them or not, I don't think gratitude made it onto Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

And so, I offer you a thanksgiving post, strategically timed the week after Thanksgiving.  May this remind us that being thankful is a daily discipline, not an annual act.  A continual conduct, not an autumn anomaly... and I'm gonna cut myself off there.

Things for which I'm thankful (in no meaningful order)

1. Beauty

I've been driving a lot lately.  I don't like to drive alone, because I get fidgety.  So, much to my mom's chagrin, I often call people while I'm on the road.  But occasionally (when I happen to be driving at dusk or sundown), no phone call is needed because the beauty of the sky overtakes me.  Now that I'm typing it out, this doesn't necessarily sound safe, being overtaken and all while I'm driving.

Anyway, two things up there really threaten to take my breath from me while I drive: sunsets and sunlight breaking through clouds.  I'm always tempted to take a picture of these things when I see them, but A. I'm driving, and B. I don't have a camera.  So here's a free stock photo I found online:

(The sky isn't the only thing I find beautiful, but in the interest of time...)

2. Truth

It's interesting that a person's field of work seems to weigh heavily on one's view of truth (what I really mean to say is epistemology, I think).  Teachers tend to view truth as real and important, because their job is to teach true things to people.  Artists, however, might view it in more relativistic terms, as the meaning and value of their own work might be different to different readers.  Et cetera.

As a would-be mathematician, my view of truth was always absolute and certain.  After all, I made it my job to understand and discover how quantities really work, in order to ultimately understand the physical reality around us.  That's not to say that this view is unanimous among mathletes, but I think it's a pretty overwhelming majority.  And now as a missionary... well, there may not be a more absolute truth oriented profession on the planet.

Anyway, I'm thankful that things are true.  That we can discover real, reliable facts and properties about people, places, and things.  That we can be wrong, and not have the eternal silver bullet of excuses, "I was just stating what is true to me."  Two and two will never add to five, brah.

Because along with truth come meaning and purpose.  Learning what's true and sharing it with others is important and satisfying.

3. International readership

Blogger tells me I've had readers from Italy, Bahrain, India, Greece, the UK, and a bunch of other countries.  Thanks for stopping by!  (I can only imagine how many mistakes led people here... people probably wanted to download When Harry Met Sally, which seems to appear in every entry I write.) 

Who are you, mysterious faraway readers?  I'll be even more thankful for you if you let me know who you are and how you got here.  That's right, I'm bribing you with gratitude.

4. God, family, and friends

This is a blog of ideas, not a personal journal.  So I'll leave number 4 at that.  But I thought I'd mention them, since they are what I'm most thankful for.

What about you?

I'd love to hear what you're most thankful for right now, whether an "obvious" thing like family or something obscure like Shaun Suisham or your favorite memory.

Jon