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Thanksgiving is among my favorite holidays.  It is uniquely American.  It typically involves family and good food.  The music is warm and comforting.  It’s the day when you’re expected to pause and be thankful, justified or not.

There’s also football.

At our house, we will think of friends and relatives lost.  We will give thanks even more for all the good friends and family, especially grandchildren, very much with us.  It is they who make life such a grand adventure.

We will not forget the violation of our home being robbed, but we will give thanks that no one was injured and that suspects were caught.  Thanksgiving reminds us that many, many have lost much, much more than our “things.”

Indeed, my list is endless when I count the good fortunes that pass my doorstep.

It is more of a strain to be thankful for our body politic this year.

I am thankful for our soldiers, here and abroad, but not the pointless fighting for people who want us gone and who steal our generous dollars for personal greed.  But the world at large is at peace; no great wars or the threat of world wars.

My heart goes out to all the families who can’t find work.  It’s physically and mentally debilitating to not have a job, especially for those who have been searching since the 2008 panic.  I wonder how they survive as they exhaust their savings, lose their homes and their self-respect.

I still have faith in our government if not its leaders.  We remain a country where people can in fact pursue happiness and individuals can speak their minds.  Our courts are trusted to protect our citizens and to dispense justice when required.

The Congress deserves no thanks for its unwillingness to address the country’s economic crisis, particularly the Republican ideologues more loyal to their no-tax pledge than their constitutional oath of office.

I take heart, however, in our history.      It shows that if our economic troubles are man made, then we can unmake them.  It will take facing facts and then compromise.  America’s great experiment is built on working together, and that’s how the Congress can get the nation’s engines humming again.

That is our heritage for which I am truly thankful.