We are a country who says the glass is half empty instead of half full. We need to change our perspective, at least on Thanksgiving.
While the country is suffering the worst economic recession in decades, we all have reasons to be thankful. One important reason is that we are here in the United States where we enjoy First Amendment rights. People complain all the time, but just having the freedom to complain is a gift we should all be thankful for. While there has been unnecessary use of force in some of the Occupy Wall Street protests, everyone has been free to protest. Just think of some of the other places in the world where people are not free to protest.
My parents emigrated from Russia before World War II where they suffered from irrational discrimination because they were Jewish. Fortunately, they left before WWII or I would not be here today. Everyone in America has immigrants in their past and we should all celebrate being here in America. We are all lucky.
However, we have millions of new immigrants who are illegal but who call America home, some who have been here since infancy. We need to solve our immigrant issue and treat these illegal immigrants with the same respect that our ancestors enjoyed. We are teaching our children the wrong values, that it is OK to treat some people badly. Our immigration issue has been going on for too long. It is time to figure out a solution and not one like Arizona and Georgia did. We are lucky that these immigrants have done jobs that Americans did not want to do like picking crops, constructions jobs, gardening and childcare. They continue to help us.
I grew up poor without healthcare and living in a one-bedroom apartment for four people. I went to school when they had half day sessions because the schools were so crowded. Nevertheless, I am grateful that I was able to get a scholarship to UC Berkeley and get a first class education.
Today, as a teacher, I am thankful for the students I have in my classes and the parents who support their education. I wish that all teachers would enjoy the same level of support that I have in Palo Alto High School. Too often teachers are blamed because the kids don't learn, but people need to realize teachers cannot educate kids on their own. It takes a village, as Hillary Clinton said years ago in her book of the same name. Kids need the support of their parents as Thomas Friedman pointed out in his NYTimes column entitled "How About Better Parents?" this past week.
While everyone has complained about Obama, I am grateful that he chose to be President at a time when our county's problems were overwhelming. Who could have done a better job? It is easy to complain, as we are all doing, but very hard to actually do something. Obama inherited a troubled country with serious economic problems. We expected him to be Superman and people are disappointed because he turned out to be human. Can you imagine what it takes to be President and trying to get all these divergent groups to cooperate? The GOP is bent on discrediting him, not solving our problems. Some of his policies have made me angry, but I probably would not have agreed with the policies of Hillary had she been elected.
We need to step back and be thankful for our country and for what it offers each of us. Most importantly, we need to work together, not at odds, to make this a better world for all of us. We all have similar goals -- to have a comfortable place to live, enough food to eat, a job, and people who care about us. I am thankful that most of us have that but we need to make sure that the 33% of the population that is struggling gets the support they need. Congress are you listening: working together is the way to achieve these goals.
Follow Esther Wojcicki on Twitter: www.twitter.com/EstherWojcicki
I am THANKFUL to have food on the table, clothing in my closet, and a roof over my head. I can aspire to other "things" besides these basics because of where I live...in these United States.
THANK YOU to all those who have and are still serving in the military. You are the only ones who have said out loud that you are willing to give the ultimate sacrifice to preserve America's freedom. My freedom. Our freedom. THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH! (My dad served in the 442nd and was very proud to serve his/our country even if his wife and family lost every possession they had and were interred in camps in Colorado and Wyoming.) In spite of this....THANK YOU 442nd (the most decorated for bravery and sacrifice in WWII) for demonstrating your loyalty to this great country.
I am truly THANKFUL to be....a citizen of this Great Nation.
Regarding that glass of water..."May I have a refill please?"
THANK YOU.
We are not the perfect country...no country is. I am THANKFUL that I live in the United States of America ...I still have freedom and can exercise free will here. I can make decisions! THANK you.
I am critical of our government as should we all be (1st amendment - THANK you) but I haven't taken that step to become a leader of it. Only through assessing the present leader and congress can I take the steps to improve it by voting and monitoring their actions and voicing concerns when I don't agree. THANK you. This is the American way. THANK you.
I am THANKFUL that education is mandatory. I see countries where it isn't or is abbreviated. The future belongs to the educated. THANK you educators for what you do and for what you have to endure to prepare the youth for tomorrow. You do for all of us....to understand and protect that freedom that we have here in the United States.
I am THANKFUL that women are achieving equality with men. It is not an easy road for women who from the "get go" were subjugated to a life status below that of animals. The ground gained through history is precious. Go, girls! And...THANK you.
That's a whole lot to be thankful for. When/if we complain, we really should look around at the rest of a lot of the world to see how lucky we are.
More and more (and thanks to the combined efforts of the right wing and their allies on the Supreme Court) it appears that we only have as much "free speech" as we can afford to BUY. Worse than that, apparently that same MONEY also allows those who have it to BUY the means to SILENCE us.
This vacuous article could be ignored but for the above. Where is the sense of social responsibility? Of caring for your fellow citizens? Of helping the poor in other countries? Of being aware of the link with greed and climate change? Of politics being a global rather than a family issue? Esther, we do not all have similar goals; a lot of us are less selfish.
I nearly gave up right there. You call that a gift? It's a right that the Egyptians have re-appropriated, and one exercised by billions worldwide. It's one I think many Americans should learn to use more intelligently.
Apart from that, I commend your outlook, but let's not gloss over the very serious problems.
Sorry - not America, I live in Australlia.
Finally, with Australia having outrageous skin cancer rates, do you still wait 16 months to have a doctor check your lesion? Just wondering..
Huh? Nice over-simplification of an useless over-simplification.
The glass is neither half full nor half empty. It just is what it is, lol.