A Brief Note on Giving Thanks

As I look around me, I can't help but get the feeling that America seems to be an angry place these days. 

We're angry that a shrinking portion of the population controls a growing portion of the money. We're angry that public schools are failing our children. We're angry that our so-called leaders are more concerned with partisan mudslinging than solving our nation''s problems. But more than anything else, we all seem to be angry with one another.

Look, I get it. We're a PMS nation built on anger. Heck, the very foundation of this country was built on anger. "What, you're going to tax us without fair representation? You're going to tell us whom to worship?  You're going to treat us like 2nd-class citizens? Fuck that. We're starting our own country!"

However, we seem to have reached a point where the appropriate response to life's irritations is sheer anger and rage. Have you read the newspaper lately? Every minor tangle is a potential interpersonal Gulf of Tonkin incident. Funny looks on the street result in brawls. Incidents on the highway result in road rage. Innocuous slights by strangers end up in wrathful revenge. 

Now, don't get me wrong. Everyone feels anger. I don't ever want to NOT feel anger. But, as Dennis Miller once said, the collective mistake we're making is this: Anger used to be a bass line that we used to merely provide a funky bottom to our cultural zeitgeist. It's now broken out into a shrieking guitar solo that's drawing a rivulet of blood from all our ears.

So maybe during this holiday week when we get together with all of our weird relatives and stuff our faces, we can turn the dial down on some of that hate and take some time to remember how lucky all of us truly are. In the grand scheme of things, even the most disgruntled among us is living better than 99% of our fellow inhabitants on the planet. Trust me, I've seen it firsthand.

For better or worse, let's give thanks and be truly grateful for all that we do have in our lives. Let's remember to help those who are less fortunate. And let's always remember that health, love and friendship should never be taken for granted.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and your families. Good will towards all.

Peace out, homies.

 

Comments

[Kevin (Always Home and Uncool)]

Word, brother.

[Daddy Scratches]

Well said.
(Nice "bass vs. guitar solo" analogy.)

[L.A. Daddy]

Fuck you, Pierre. I still wanna kick your ass for beating me at fantasy football...

(happy turkey day)

[jackson]

This is why I love you, man. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. Thanks for help keeping it all in perspective.

[the muskrat]

I was going to say what Kevin said: Word.

I wrote a similar post yesterday. However shitty things are here, we've got it way better than most of the rest of the world: our median income is top 1% in the world ($50k/yr).

[lurker]

Happy Thanksgiving!
One of the things I am grateful for is your blog.

[Isabel]

Always love hearing your take on things. Happy Thanksgiving to you and the Peanut.

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[Sara C.]

I loved this. Thanks.

[carosgram]

I just got back from seeing the Muppet Movie with my granddaughter. It was so refreshing, so upbeat and such a cry against the cynicism of much of what we see on the media. So nice to see a 'nice' movie. It made me feel good about myself and the world. And I laughed a lot!

[Tia G]

Great post! Thanks for sharing it!

[Chopperpap]

NIce post, unfortunately it's wishful thinking. We are a nation who doesn't feel thankful for anything.

It's hard to be when we expect it.

[Asianmommy]

Hope your Thanksgiving was peaceful and happy.

[Ashley]

Truly inspiring words!

[brownaround]

needed that.....

[Paige Jennifer]

That Walmart brawl over a $2 waffle iron? All of the participants should be required to read this post.

[Roy]

Preach it brother. I only wished I read your post before I pepper-sprayed those people at Walmart on Black Friday.

[Pam]

Yes, and thank you.

[susan]

Yes, too much anger on the subway. I find myself walking faster than before due to all these angry people including myself. I try to hide my anger though.. Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving with Peanut.

[Nanny Lexy]

I completely agree with you! I notice how angry everyone is about everything! I try to lead by example by being positive as often as I can. I work as a nanny and love my job, so I'm sure it's easier for me to be positive than most. Just remember smiles and laughter are infectious...but so is anger!

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[Eimantas]

I completely agree with you! I notice how angry everyone is about everything! I try to lead by example by being positive as often as I can. I work as a nanny and love my job, so I'm sure it's easier for me to be positive than most. Just remember smiles and laughter are infectious...but so is anger!

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[Mamie Runion]

NIce post, unfortunately it's wishful thinking.

[Justin]

I've always had the impeossirn (naive, of course; I'm not a mental health "professional") that women have developed a particularly good psychological defense mechanism to balance the fact that their male mates are bigger/faster/stronger, and that they have a special talent for inflicting emotional pain that is as destructive as physical abuse, yet falls just short of provoking actual violence. I've also come to believe that, as a matter of political correctness, this phenomenon has not been adequately studied. The feminists out there will tell you that men are able as women (well, the feminists will actually tell you that men are more able) when it comes to inflicting emotional abuse.Based on my personal experience with women (including with my first wife, to whom I'm still married), I continue to believe these things.But I'd be happy to be proven wrong, given some credible research.Rusty

[Jonathan]

"While she may have been a raging bitch - sanppilg his head and hitting him with a newspaper would probably not prompt me to call the police, assuming he looked fit enough to defend himself." This is the problem in a nutshell. Women being physically abusive towards men is tolerated in ways that the reverse isn't.Say this woman finally provokes the guy to hauling off and smacking her. If you hadn't seen the womans abusive behavior, you would call the police by assuming his violence is "worse" simply because he is a male, but if it is one sided coming from the female, you shrug your shoulders and make it the mans problem for letting it go on?Huh?!

[Zeliha]

Helen,I e-mailed you with my experiences. A cuploe of further observations. Anger is a problem that affects men and women. Society has focused on the problems of male anger, but under the banner of "empowerment" has encouraged women to cultivate their anger and express it without reservation. Another angle to this is to ask what effect women's anger has on women. Being overly angry is not a psychologically healthy state of mind. It eats away at the person with the anger as much as it does the people towards which it is expressed.I'd be interested in such a book, I think it would add some balance to the "gender wars" discussions.

[Pardip]

"I also don't think its particularly usuefl or healthy, especially when used to excuse or explain one's own conduct", I was including the women.To be very candid, I think the PA stuff must be reversed in my house. I make a real effort to be direct - though I respect and deeply love my husband, he is often unwilling to be direct. Maybe the problem is men want to be approved of? I'm guessing everybody does, but I seem to be less worried about saying I don't have time to pick up the kitty litter. Go figure.

[Pardip]

"I also don't think its particularly usuefl or healthy, especially when used to excuse or explain one's own conduct", I was including the women.To be very candid, I think the PA stuff must be reversed in my house. I make a real effort to be direct - though I respect and deeply love my husband, he is often unwilling to be direct. Maybe the problem is men want to be approved of? I'm guessing everybody does, but I seem to be less worried about saying I don't have time to pick up the kitty litter. Go figure.

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