Opening our hearts to thanksgiving

There was a woman we knew, an editor who worked here, who was struck with a virulent cancer, one of those horrible, nasty kinds that don't allow too much room for hope.

And there was nothing fair about it. Audrey was personable, endearing, good-hearted. She was a young woman in the prime of life. In her 40s, so maybe not all that young actually, but way too young for death.

And yet, in the last year of her life, more than once she said she was grateful for her cancer because it had allowed her to feel so much love and caring from the people around her. Dealt this awful hand, Audrey focused on her blessings. Instead of self-pity, she bubbled over with thankfulness.

In that poignant passage, what a remarkable gift she left us.

Whether it's caused by human nature, the pace and stress of life or a culture of disparagement, we shower most days in a wash of toxic negativity.

If you have any doubt, seriously listen sometime to the tenor of the talk around the water cooler. Or examine how much time sports talk radio spends on the winning touchdown. Measure how much comedy club humor revolves around put downs and sarcasm. See how much inspiration you find on cable news.

Most of us, most of the time, take so much for granted. And we know we do.

Let's ask ourselves, on this Thanksgiving Day: What really brings happiness?

Is it that hectic cynicism that abounds around and sometimes distracts us?

Or are we happiest in those moments when we pause to reflect on our blessings and give thanks for them?

Does anything compare, for example, to the feeling of hugging your children and giving thanks that your life is blessed by them? When you've worried over someone who's been ill, does not your heart burst with appreciation at any sign of improvement?

“It is literally true, as the thankless say, that they have nothing to be thankful for,” author W.J. Cameron once said. “He who sits by the fire, thankless for the fire, is just as if he had no fire. Nothing is possessed save in appreciation, of which thankfulness is the indispensable ingredient. But a thankful heart hath a continual feast.”

On this Thanksgiving Day, let us pause to give thanks for family and friends, for all that is good in our lives.

But let us also vow to keep that thankfulness with us through the other days of the year through the good days when it is easy to take things for granted, and through the hard days when the blessings become more apparent.

We have so much to be thankful for.

Let us bubble over with our thankfulness.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all.