Thanksgiving is increasingly a source of uneasiness for many people, whether it’s anxiety over family gatherings or the stress of inevitable political arguments with loved ones at the Thanksgiving table.
But it’s important to take the time to appreciate the good in our lives — not just the good that’s come about because of our own work or judgment, but also the good that comes from God’s providence.
Gratitude doesn’t seem to come easily these days. We live at a time and in a culture that values grievance over gratefulness, presents over presence, and selfies over selflessness. Pessimism abounds about the state of the country and the condition of the culture. It’s tempting to feel unthankful, resentful, and downright embittered.
Our kids are busier, more stressed out, and more anxious than those of any other recent generation. We are expected to accomplish more in every area of life and to prove how wonderful it all is by constantly posting it on social media. Opinions polls show Americans are not happy with their core institutions, with their politicians, and with the direction of their country.
It is common to hear that Americans are cynical. But it’s more accurate to say that Americans are tired of the cynicism of much of modern life. Americans can no longer even agree on what it means to be an American. Patriotism is on the wane with more than one-third of millennials saying they are “not very” patriotic.
Even today’s holiday cannot escape the culture of ingratitude. Football used to a welcome Thanksgiving Day ritual. But now NFL fans are forced to witness the spectacle of millionaire athletes demonstrating against injustice by protesting the national anthem, the flag, and the very meaning of America. Some players seem unable to keep America’s supposed unfairness in perspective.
Before a game in Mexico City last weekend, Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch sat during the national anthem but stood during the Mexican national anthem. Lynch was seemingly oblivious to the human rights problems that have prompted so many Mexicans to flee north for a better life in the United States.
America isn’t perfect. But all in all, we have little to complain about. We are safer and more stable than most countries. Nobody starves from lack of resources in America, and fewer do worldwide than ever before, thanks in part to American beneficence. Many of our most prominent diseases are those of plenty, not of poverty.
We routinely say America is the greatest country in the world. But how much do we believe it? More than three-quarters of the world’s population live in countries with significant restrictions on religious freedom. One-third do not have access to proper sanitation. And 60 percent live in un-free countries — including, Lynch might be surprised to learn, Mexico. Let’s be honest. America has been blessed among nations.
America is polarized politically, culturally, economically, and in other important ways. But Americans have much more to be thankful for than simply not having to endure the predicaments of those living in other countries.
For conservatives, we can be thankful for a more conservative court system, a less invasive regulatory state, a booming stock market, and an administration committed to protecting religious liberty and the sanctity of human life. We have not had as much to be grateful for in at least a generation.
We should delight in our blessings, and we can do so simply by stopping and reflecting on them. Science suggests that simply by recalling all that we have to be thankful for, by counting our blessings, we can feel more grateful and grow happier. Gratitude and its expression isn’t just a mindset, but a habit that’s cultivated and practiced. It is associated with emotional and physical health.
Ingratitude is, at its heart, a spiritual problem. In our pursuit of happiness, we have become ungrateful, and often unhappy, because we have focused too much on ourselves.
To regain it requires taking our attention away from ourselves and directing it toward our fellow man and, especially, heaven. President Abraham Lincoln knew the importance of doing this when he declared that today would be “a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”
None of this is to say these aren’t challenging times. But we have much to be thankful for, and we should appreciate all that we have – because we have a lot.
Gary Bauer is president of American Values and chairman of Campaign for Working Families. He ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000.
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