Ode to Thanksgiving, 2014

I could decry the stores that open on Thanksgiving Day,
Or how, among the young, antisocial media holds sway,
Ferguson's cry for justice that the system will not heed,
The millions in our country who will spend the day in need.

The House of Representatives that fails to represent
The interests of the people beyond the one percent.
The undone nuclear weapons deal with patient foe Iran;
The troubles in the Holy Land that linger on and on.

A nation that's lost its focus; a world of ADD,
Of kids with diabetes, type 1, type 2, type 3.
Undocumented aliens not wanted here or there;
A nation based on caring that no longer seems to care.

A lame duck in the White House, a weakened public fisc
Putin knocking off his neighbors as if he's playing Risk.
Enough troubles in the world to fill a massive book.
If you want to find disaster, you won't have far to look.

Yet there's more to life than misery and unrelenting threats.
There's much for which we're grateful. Shall we list those things? Yes, let's.
I'm grateful for my wife and my kids' prodigious health
And other forms of vital, undenominated wealth.

I'm grateful that I live right here, in the good ole U.S.A.
Where freedom isn't free and yet we're free today.
I'm grateful that at 56 there's still hair on my head.
I'm grateful for my happy home, warm spouse, warm food, warm bed.

I'm grateful for my dentist though I don't like going there.
I'm even grateful that lots of folks enjoy ObamaCare.
I'm grateful for my iPhone, Uber, Lyft, and other apps
And for Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and most of all the Google chaps.

I'm grateful to be grateful, to have a grateful heart.
If peace on earth's to come to pass, then gratitude's the start.
So amid collective grumbling over flight and road delays,
Are you grateful this Thanksgiving? Maybe stop and count the ways.