Thanksgiving 2008

There are plenty of cheesy "What I am thankful for" type posts out there. Even if they are heartfelt and meaningful to the individual, at some point they get lost in a cacophony of sameness for the other people out there. 

That is a sad fact of society today. Indeed, the vast majority of people have much to be thankful for. We live in a pretty fantastic time. Technological advances have made our lives easier and more entertaining than ever before in history. The gap between rich and poor seems larger but in truth, even most people labeled "poor", at least in the US, still have a roof over their head and, in most cases, still have many, many luxury items.

Open memo to welfare recipients, for example; yes, you are in a sad state of affairs. Through either bad fortune, inattention in school, lack of ambition, poor relationship choices, or whatever causes got you down, here is an interesting fact; even television is a luxury, much less the cable and satellite dishes I have known so many of you who have. 

I will never forget being at Rose and Jimmys. They were on food stamps, welfare, housing assistance...those are the programs I knew about. To them, it was a game and a joke to purchase something small with a food stamp, take the change (which, at least at that time, was given in cash) home and order a pizza to chow while watching their max-package cable tv. 

But you know what? Though I do resent those who abuse the system, the fact is we live in a time where even when I get over 34% of my gross ripped before I ever see it, partially to fund folks like them, partially so the moronic Congress can "bail out" Wall Street and Auto makers, so they can subsidize farmers to not grow products (an obvious tobacco reference), to fund things I find morally reprehensible, yet still I have sufficient fundage that our little family drives separate cars, we are able to hang out with friends like Riot Kitty and Mr. Riot Kitty, family like Fullur, go to movies, and so forth.

In other words, even though these next 8 years are going to get me really jacked up with irritation, based on the rather fair conclusion that the reverence Obama has for the worst President in US History, FDR, and wants to inflict another round of Raw Dea...er, NEW Deal legislation, which he will achieve with the Democrat Congress, our children's children will still be suffering under the burdens he heaps upon us and long-lasting economic devastation he piles on top of the bail-out(s), we will still have benefits that guys like King George could only dream of. 

People below the poverty line will live better than Kings of just two or three hundred years ago did. That is pretty cool.

Also cool is the fact the landslide election of Obama should put to rest for years some of the over the top playing of the race card. Guess what? Most people don't care about color. So maybe the nation is ready to move on to the next stage.

 Now, the question remains...am I Thankful? 

I will have to get back to you on that.