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Thanks...

In my business the end of the year represents one of two things, either ultimate boredom because theres such a lack of staff that no decisions can be made, or you're super busy.

Last year, I read technical manuals and got caught up on my certifications. This year, I'm "super busy".

That effort, and the development of the 'Clifford Clinton Project' has dropped my posting effort somewhat. I've completed the character development process for the major characters of the story and I've got atleast two endings outlined, so in between coding and fixing problems, the other project is moving along nicely.

That being said, catch this if you can and remember to say your own "thanks grandad"

And speaking of giving thanks...

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I dont think I'm alone in that, as in the corporate world we get both Thursday and Friday off from work, while Christmas just rates one day. Christmas gets all the publicity, but Thanksgiving is the one we wall want. It's a simple holiday, it involves no mandatory orgy of mindless gift buying, just a feast, with family and friends, a few football games and rememberance of the year since the last Thanksgiving. It is a holiday made for people who's culture is aimed at the frontier and the future. It's the one day we stop and go against our nature by looking back at where weve been. We look back to give thanks to the providence that has let us go on for another year. Another year against the odds. Another year living in the embrace of freedom in defiance of the base nature of men and their natural drive for power.

Americans and Canadians take this one holiday to return to the places they call home as most of us have gone somewhere else to seek our fortune( and perhaps - escape our families!). Our collective homecoming is like the migration of Salmon, only without the dire ending of the great fish. If you want to watch something amazing, go to LAX and just watch the crowds on Wednesday afternoon. It is truly amazing.

We go home, We meet our neglected relatives, we eat great food in great quantities, we get reaquainted with those closest to us and we simply and humbly, give thanks. Some to God, Some just to each other, but we take the time to recognize the simple beauty of just being here. Its the civilized version of saying how much we appreciate those who serve in the trenches of life with us. Its a recognition of how we all know how lucky we are.

I'm grateful to be alive in one of the most exciting times in the history of mankind. Freedom and human liberty are on the march, and I may live long enough to see the remaining tyrannies leave the world and the human race at last. Since the ice age ended 10,000 years ago mankind has struggled with itself in how to live together. We are getting closer every day to the tipping point where the worlds human population will no longer be property of the state but will live as free men and women as citizens and not subjects.

Castro gets older every day, and when he goes the "strong man" theory of government goes with him. Kim Il Jong finds the walls of civilization closing in on him and when he goes, the last of the Asian warlord organization will die out with him. Iran is finding the imbalance of trade go from export of terror to the export of Caspian caviar as the market for Islamic terror is suddenly without suitors and caviar is always in demand. Syria is finding that it pays to return our amassadors calls and Saudi Arabia is beginning to look like the anachronism that it truly is.

60 days from now, Palestine and Iraq will vote. Two of the great cities of Islamic civilization( Bagdhad and Jerusalem ) will be voting. This is significant. Who can say it wont someday come to Mecca? If Islam wants to survive, it had better. Sooner, rather than later...

Its not perfect, its not heaven, but its not hell either. Its just life, and I'm happy to be here to watch it happen. In my life, I've been able to watch men land on the moon, the Berlin wall fall and communism march into the dustbin of history and I've watched Women stand in line and vote in Afghanistan.

Not.Freakin.Bad.

Sometime during Thanksgiving, we stop and say that we should be thankful this year over others because of something that happened this year. I say be thankful every year, especially in the bad years. You never know how good you have it. We have it very good, and by my estimate, Its about to get a a whole lot better.

Be thankful for your wives, your husbands and especially your children. Be thankful for your parents, even if you never knew them. Be thankful for yourself. Be thankful for all the happy accidents in your life that lead you to where you are today.

Frankly, I'm just thankful that I'm still here. There was a time in my life when I could never have believed that I would someday be 43 years old and living a comfortable exurban life with a wife and two kids, but here I am. I cannot begin to understand how I could be so lucky while so many that I've known in my life are no longer with us, but I am.

Don't overlook the simple beauty of your lives, and be thankful you got to see the sunrise, the stars, the leaves fall or orchestras play or babies laugh. Be thankful you got to live with more freedom and liberty and more wealth and health than any time in the history of mankind.

Eat up. Say thanks. Do the Dishes. Watch Football.

Now, thats a holiday.

UPDATE: Just in case you need to understand how special this time and this year is, take a look at this one.

Posted @ November 22, 2004 07:14 PM | Current Events

Posted by: Michael at November 23, 2004 08:08 AM

Posted by: Mike at November 23, 2004 12:14 PM

Posted by: Roberto at November 23, 2004 02:09 PM

Posted by: Maureen at November 23, 2004 03:38 PM