Happy Thanksgiving!

If you haven't noticed by now, if you are reading this column, I am strongly opinionated. I am passionate about a lot of issues, and I admit to a little "attitude" every once in a while! But the thing I am most passionate about, after my faith in God, is family. I love my family! All of it; from the most ridiculous to the sublime! I am fortunate to have a big extended family. We are both flawed and fabulous! We squabble amongst ourselves at times, and yet, the loyalty and the love is tremendous. We may fight each other, but just let someone else jump on any of us, and it's a hillbilly jihad!

Today is the day we set aside to give thanks for all the blessings in our life, and I thank God for my family, my friends, my church and my country. Sometimes I let things that are happening in our country get to me and stress me out. When I do that, I lose sight of all the wonderful things around me, and I forget to be thankful. I am going to try not to do that anymore. Regardless of the hard times so many of us are having right now, there is still much to be thankful for about living in America! Even struggling financially, there is more available to us here than anywhere else in the world. Some of the poorest people here are rich compared to citizens in most other countries. We should be humbled by that and grateful for it.

I want to say to everyone that focusing on what we do have and being grateful will make everything better in our lives. Not just on Thanksgiving Day, but every day of the year. Get out of the house this holiday season, not just for shopping, but to re-connect with the reason for the season! Take your kids for a drive to look at Christmas lights. Go to a cantata or a Christmas play. Go caroling around your neighborhood or a nursing home. Volunteer to deliver Christmas baskets with a church or community group. Visit with family or friends and take them a plate of Christmas goodies. You will be blessed by blessing others.

God bless all of you and yours today and always.

Making a Difference in the World

It's been awhile since I last attempted this column. When I started off, I was full of steam and ready to do my part to make change happen in Starke county and the world. I have lost a little steam since then. So much has happened both in my personal life and the world since then. I think I try too hard. I just got back from the doctor today and, of course there is a new pill in my life. I am recovering from whatever kind of flu hit me and most of my family last week, despite having had the seasonal flu shot a month ago. This new pill is for depression. The doctor thinks I am depressed. Heck, I KNOW I am, but I don't know if a new pill is going to make much difference. Just about everyone I know is on some kind of pill for anxiety or depression and no one seems to be getting appreciably better. I think it is just the way life is these days in the USA.

We all know that nothing seems to be going very well for us these days. Lots of unhappiness to go around and it seems like no one knows what they are doing, no matter how many "czars" we accumulate or polls we take or pundits we listen to. Oh, everyone has opinions, but that's all they are. No one knows any real answers to all our dilemmas. I think it's because it's all gotten too big, too convoluted, and no one country, even one as big and powerful as the U.S. knows how to reign it all in and fix it. No one has that big a lassoo!

People have all kinds of ways of reacting to troubled times. Many keep their heads down and work their butts off trying to just keep going so fast that maybe trouble won't catch up. Some stick their heads in the sand and hope that by the time they have to come up for air, whatever is wrong will be over, and then some of us run around like loose wheels trying to catch every piece of the sky we think is coming down. Regardless which type of human nature we are behaving like, all of us these days are doing the best we can each in our own way to make it work for ourselves and our families. Only one thing can really make it better, for sure, for all of us: encouragement!

Turn to your partner, your friend, your doctor, your mom or dad, or whoever is thinking about you, praying for you, doing the things that make life feel better every day, and say "thanks". To those who are keeping the house a comfortable, warm place to abide by their labor, to the "fairies" who keep us in clean sheets and clothes, or who make a nice hot meal, or even bring one home in a paper sack. Let's all encourage each other. We need it right now. All of us. It makes us do it one more day.

If we do this right we might run the pharmaceutical industry out of business! Umm, probably not, but it's a fun idea. I don't know if the new pill will help me or not, but it would feel good if the people in my life appreciated the efforts I make for them, and told me so. It's worth a try.