Geee Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 American Spectator: There’s always plenty about which to grumble. A stagnant economy. Encroaching Big Government. Soaring federal debt and uncontrolled entitlement spending. Marriage deconstruction. Family breakdown. Over 40 percent of American children born without married parents. Coarsening popular entertainment. A post-modern amoral culture that demonizes virtue. Continued abortion on demand. Internationally, plenty of evils brew. Iran’s crazy mullahs may yet get their nukes. Brutal wars rage in Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and several other hot spots. Radical Islam captivates tens of millions. Millions of Christians are routinely persecuted. Anti-Semitism persists. Drug lords bankroll billions while killing countless souls and bodies. Millions of women and children are sexually trafficked internationally. Despite these horrors, there is still plenty for which to give thanks. America’s first presidential Thanksgiving proclamation was decreed by Abraham Lincoln during a Civil War that killed about 600,000 — the equivalent, proportionally, of 6 to 7 million Americans today. Thanksgiving focuses our minds on identifying the good in a fallen world. And there’s a lot of good, especially relative to other times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valin Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 Reason for thanks: The world has almost never known todays relative global peace. Excepting the several tragic conflicts listed above, directly affecting a small percentage of the worlds population, nearly all the worlds 7 billion live without war or even the likelihood of war. During the last century, well over 100 million died in war. Even more died in genocides engineered by their own governments, typically Communist or Nazi. Across 5 decades of Cold War there was an arms race, the threat of a Soviet dominated world, and the risk of global nuclear war. Totalitarianism and imminent nuclear annihilation have thankfully receded. Today less than 3 percent of global wealth goes to military spending. For nearly all of human history, war has been the norm. Today, it is the mercifully the exception. (Snip) Americans can give thanks for a world that is wealthier, healthier and more peaceful. Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday and stimulates reflections on our own national blessings. Our nation, despite its deep social, economic and spiritual problems, continues to enjoy tremendous improvements. Every year we are slightly healthier and wealthier. Our environment is getting cleaner. Despite infringements on liberty, Americans number among the 12 percent of the world population who live in a flawed but full democracy, according to an Economist index. (Snip) Most Americans will thank the Almighty when they dine on Thanksgiving, and rightly so. He has given us so much more than we deserve. "Choose to be optimistic; it feels better." Dalai Lama 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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