I'M VERY THANKFUL

The turkey was stuffed, and now I am. So are the dogs. We're all very content.

This is supposed to be a day to count one's blessings. I hardly know where to begin about what I am thankful for. There are so many things.

I'm thankful for my inherited health and family heritage. I went astray into cultism in early adulthood but am thankful I saw the light instead of wasting the rest of my life in a cult splinter. Those have been happening with predictable regularity every since William Miller and Ellen G. White set the original madness in motion. Every generation or so, other fanatics grabbed the ball and ran with it into even worse delusions. They run into the multiple hundreds now.

I'm thankful for having a wonderful soul mate wife to share what to me is an idylic life here in Cottonwood. I'm thankful for the children and grandchildren I've been blessed with. For good and thoughtful neighbors I don't have to be fearful of. For competent medical professionals who keep me and Phyllis in the best shape possible.

Even though we're not "rolling in dough," we have enough to squeak through every month. Many don't. I'm glad I inherited a bit of my dad's ability to squeeze a dollar until it screamed when necessary.

Most of all, I'm thankful I no longer cower in superstitious fear before an imaginary deity that keeps you in bondage to fear and guilt so the preisthood that champions him can ride around in hedonistic luxury.

Life is good. It won't last forever, but while it does, I intend to make the most of it. Thankfully and appreciatively.

I'M THANKFUL TOO

Theistically prejudiced people will almost universally conclude and probably state that a professing atheist such as I doesn't feel thankful on this day dedicated to being thankful. 

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

I'm very thankful.

I just don't waste my time expressing gratitude to a non-existent sky fairy -- the adult version of Santa Claus.  I express my thankfulness to the real people and things from which I have benefited and am benefiting.

I couldn't begin to enumerate all the things I am thankful for, but here are a few.

I am thankful for those who risked everything, including their lives, to give me this great bastion of freedom called The United States of America.  I am also grateful for the dedication of great people who have preserved it against every peril, often to the point of the "ultimate sacrifice," so I can enjoy its benefits today.

I am thankful to exist on a planet which is just perfect for the kind of advanced intelligent life embodied in the human race.

I am thankful to have enjoyed the benefits of education to develop and augment my natural talents so I can sit at this computer and write this blog.

I am thankful for the genetic matchups which made me the healthy individual I am, even at this advanced age.

I am thankful Barack Obama was re-elected and the tide of fanatical theocratism and unbridled capitalistic Dickensianism has again been thwarted.

I am thankful to enjoy the sumptuous feast I am about to go partake of and look forward to the promise of tomorrow.

There is much, much more I am thankful for, but it's now time to go eat and you get the idea, I'm sure.