Bigfork Eagle letter from the editor

To be thankful

Thanksgiving—day of relatives, gluttony and football. Truly it is the most American of holidays. It is also a great time to pause and reflect on one's good fortune, for we are all so very fortunate to live in this country where water is clean, food is plentiful and freedom is a right.

While pondering my own thoughts on being thankful, I realized that I have much to appreciate. I have a supportive family who loves me despite my potty mouth, tattoos, vow of artistic poverty and pessimistic tendencies (thanks, mom). I have a dog who, as everyone knows, is my pride and joy.

I have an education, and in turn, a promising career. I have a nice home filled with family heirlooms, music, art, and typically, dirty dishes. I have a small, elite group of friends who know the real me (they can never become my enemies, because they know too much).

I have good food and good wine (thank you, Dionysus). All these things keep me going, but looking at the broader picture, I have much more substantial, universal truths for which to be grateful.

I am thankful that I am an American woman living in this day and age. I have the freedom to live my life according to my own values, beliefs and morality.

I have the opportunity to be a manager in a field that was once completely run by men. I can vote, drive a car, wear any item of clothing I wish, have babies or not have babies, live alone, support myself, and be independent.

In many other countries across the globe, such civil liberties are not allowed to the female sex. Cultural diversity is important, but once again, I am glad I was born a U.S. citizen.

I am thankful that I live in a place where you can turn a tap and obtain fresh, clean water.

In Honduras, the second poorest country in this hemisphere, 50,000 children age 5 and under die each year from contaminated water. In addition:

? Nearly one in five people have no access to clean water

? 25,000 people die each day from a lack of water, or because it is contaminated

? Four million children die every year from water-borne diseases, one child every eight seconds

? Lack of water forces over 100 million children to miss out on an education

So when you are rinsing off your vegetables for the annual Thanksgiving feast, consider how lucky we are to have clean water.

To be thankful is to be humble. The ability to look at what we have, rather than what we don't have or wish we had, is a virtue. Even if for one day—be it Thanksgiving—we can see ourselves as fortunate, then our gluttony might be excused.