Giving Thanks

Being a Contrarian is essentially reactive. I see something that strikes me as generally accepted, yet plainly stupid and chronicle it here. I could mis-read myself as plaintive or whiny, but that is only what I’ve chosen for this forum.

It is the season of Thanksgiving. I more or less lounge around the house in new clothes patriotically purchased at the Mall on Black Friday. I recall the well-known un-intellectual Dennis Prager writing that the difference between red and blue states is that people in red states are grateful while people in blue states are entitled. I am in a blue state but grateful nonetheless in this Thanksgiving season, particularly grateful for the little group we call our family.

We are all healthy. The Trophy Wife, eternally young, the Boys, and the Daughter, all for now without major complaint.

We have what we need. Beyond that we have pretty much whatever we want. The business provides. Sometimes more and sometimes less, but so far always enough.

The Children are off the payroll. #1 Son will have some choice of jobs with his soon-to-be MBA. The Daughter and #2 Son have terrific jobs in their chosen careers. I am not so self-centered as to be concerned about their social lives or any lack of offspring. Not much I can do about that.

We are all engaged in the world. We have our various activities, meeting people, going places, introducing one person to another, trying to make a contribution, reading.

We are happy, as far as I can tell. Perhaps that is the perception of the singularly unperceptive or the simply insensitive, but it works for me.

I am less grateful for other things. Call waiting, for example. For another day.