THANKS

Today in the US is Thanksgiving.

It is time to appreciate the things in one's own life: family, friends, and bounty that surrounds oneself.

It is a time for reflection. It is also a time to soul search, look at oneself and think about change.

Change is hard to do. Change takes an amount of courage but success is never guaranteed in life.

But with change comes new opportunities for life, liberty, happiness.

For even in the stressful, worst times, there is always comfort in true friends, family and loved ones.

At times, people forget about the ones around them. The ones who can cover their back. The ones who are waiting in the wings for your answer. The ones who will make time to be with you. The ones who are soul mates.

If we reflect upon those values and norms, Thanksgiving is a pretty important holiday in our society. It transcends the different American cultures since it is a secular ideal: family is community and community is family. It is remembrance of the hospitality of the native people to the weary foreigners who came ashore to escape the horrible conditions back in their home country. Opportunity and free will is the rock which the early colonists anchored in this land. But one needs to have a vision in order to see the dream of a better future.

Our collective media culture is nearsighted in what many would call the American Dream. It used to mean getting married, having a good job, having a car, a house with a white picket fence, kids and weekends off for family time. It was probably last embodied in the TV series Happy Days.

The American Dream may have been flying so long its colors have faded to gray. But for many people, the opportunity to work in America instead of being caught in escalating war zones throughout the world is enough to risk life and limb, like the early Pilgrims. But it is a different land now, with a waning economy, stagnant wages, violent protests, and increasing tyrannical government red tape, it is hard to imagine a cornucopia of hope for the common man.

But we endure. That is the human spirit.

If one pauses to reflect through the steamy bowls of side dishes and the large golden turkey platter,  it is good to be alive and well. And all the points previously stated above, can be exported to a simple discussion on LOST.

We are still thankful for a show that both inspired and challenged us viewers.
We are still thankful for the show's plot twists and turns that we remember to this very day.

The show embodied many of the themes of Thanksgiving as a desperate band of individuals attempted to forge some relationship, some bonds, some friendships, some answers, and some hope for their own futures.

And I thank those who continue to stop by to read these posts.