Most of us will soon sit down to the traditional Thanksgiving repast in a few hours.

It is a special day set aside for family, food and friendship.

As we try not to slop too much gravy on the spuds, slather cranberry sauce on the bird, and avoid scooping the savory buttered green peas in our lap, it can be a time to stop and reflect.

One pal put it this way: We are all blessed. We are. 

Looking at the world through a glass that is half full, our bellies are full, our toes are warm, our kids seem happy, and no one is coming in the back door to repossess the TV set or Grandma's silver service. Our nation is enjoying a period of recovery from a pandemic that took away the souls of millions and threw our economy into a tizzy. Yet, we are still alive and mostly well.

But it is not the same for others. Around the world, many tremble with the terror of war.

Some of them live in nations with unfamiliar names, in towns with names we can’t pronounce, alongside rivers with names we can’t spell.

Others, living in a storied land we call Holy, fear for their children as violence and bloodshed once again roll down their biblical hillsides, as it has since the time the Apostles were privates.

Are we blessed? You bet.

Think about our local situation. Republicans and Democrats jaw back and forth, but I have not heard of anyone getting into a fistfight or worse – at least not this week. Up here in the Great State of Maine, those claiming to be natives coexist and even get along with folks who are from away. At a recent referendum, local voters rejected an $89 million proposal to build new school facilities, but most agree something will have to be done, to upgrade the current facilities. We will work on that. 

We are getting ready to experience the new tourist season. We expect to see 50,000, or so, visitors drive to Boothbay to marvel at the sparkling holiday lights at the Botanical Gardens. Merchants applaud the lengthening of their window to pick up a few more receipts.  

Most of us are tethered to electronic devices that allow us to perform tasks that were found only on the pages of science fiction magazines a few years ago. Today, we have wristwatches that perform tasks that outperform the fabled wrist radio worn by the newspaper comic strip detective Dick Tracy.

Once upon a time, not too long ago, the word cancer was spoken in hushed tones as our grandparents feared not only the disease but even the very name of the ailment. Today, we see the word cancer paired with the word cure, as medicines that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars a year give us hope and a chance to live long enough to see our children and grandchildren graduate from college, walk down the aisle, and present us with the chance to cuddle the next generation.

Scientists like our friends at the Bigelow Labs study our environment, discovering things their teachers would only imagine. Others, at universities and private industrial labs, tinker with the building blocks of humanity as they tweak the mysteries of DNA and RNA to cure diseases that once were sure death sentences.

Ancient ideas and technologies, like windmills, are being updated and may someday replace the fossil fuels that power our world.

I did a decidedly unscientific poll of my ancient friends to determine what they were thankful for, and the number one choice was family. All the high-tech gadgets, scientific advances, and other modern goodies seem to pale when people think about the basic unit of our civilization – the family.

Yes, the family. The object of bad Dad and Mother-in-Law jokes, snide remarks, sibling rivalry, and the occasional stage for wrenching heart-failing sadness, But for all its foibles, and flaws, it is still the source of life’s greatest joy.

Soon, we will be bombarded with TV/internet ads urging us to spend our life savings on a bucket of goodies for friends and relatives. Some financial experts (?) predict we will tighten our belts and keep credit cards and their high-interest rates in our wallets.

Didn’t some old smart aleck tell us “Angels we have heard on high, tell us to go out and buy?”

But that thought is for another time and place.

Today it is Thanksgiving, and I can’t wait to sit down with the family to catch up with their doings.

As we pass the spuds and onions, the gravy, and the bird, let us all reflect on each other and remember that we all have been blessed.