As my Heathen Rebel Colonist friends know quite well, today is Thanksgiving in the United States of America, and that is definitely something worth celebrating and acknowledging. As I have noted many times, Thanksgiving was always my favourite American holiday while I lived Over There. It is a great time to get the whole family together for a gigantiferous and ridiculously complicated meal – while studiously trying your absolute level best to avoid getting into political arguments.

Whenever I went over to my aunt’s house for Turkey Day, for instance, I always felt EXACTLY like the dog in this legendary meme:

That is what tends to happen when you are BY FAR the most right-wing person present. Indeed, compared to me, literally everyone else in the room was a Communist.

And you KNOW how I feel about COMMUNISTS:

Nonetheless, Thanksgiving was always a special time – even though I would usually show up at pretty much the last minute, and leave as soon as possible, to avoid all the… people. And it still is.

I want to note how important gratitude is. The more you read into the Bible and talk to God directly, the more you will understand the importance of gratitude. God gave you this life for a REASON. He has a purpose in mind for you, known only to Him, and He gave you everything you need to fulfil that purpose.

Simply for that reason alone, He deserves thanks.

It is, of course, very hard to be grateful these days. That is why it is so important.

We are, after all, at the mercy of an angry, embittered, almost completely senile old man, wandering around the White House, giving ever more random and weird orders that have brought us to within millimetres of global thermonuclear war. In circumstances like that, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by fear, and to give in to the temptation to despair.

Do not do this. There is always hope. And there is ALWAYS reason to be grateful.

Find those reasons, in your friends, your family, your children, and your community. Be grateful for the small things in life – for doing so will beautify your life, and in so doing, beautify you.

The worst people in the world are always the ungrateful, selfish ones. It is not a coincidence that they have a real ugliness about them, physically, that you can always see – that ugliness of the soul always manifests itself upon their faces and bodies.

Do not be like them. Remember why you are here, and give thanks for that. And, more importantly, give thanks for the people around you, who made your existence possible, and who are there to celebrate this day with you.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.