It's difficult sometimes to be positive in a time where we see violence on the television every day, were there are natural disasters and wars flashing before our eyes and where "doom & gloom" seem to be on everyone's minds.  I don't know about you, but I don't want "doom & gloom" in my life, so I try to look at the things that are going on right NOW, that make life pretty darn good, the things to be thankful for.

There are a lot of things going on right NOW which would lead some people to believe that these are the WORST times in history, I disagree.  I am pretty grateful that I didn't have to go to war and I was able to live past my 30th Birthday, there are other times in history where that was common practice for  MOST men, luckily, it's only a small percentage now.   I'm pretty happy that statistics show that if I eat right and take my vitamins, I should live to exactly 69.7 years old.  Not so bad since if it was the year 1900 it would be a mere 46.

I'm thankful that even if I am classified as "poor"  I probably have a cell phone with access to the internet wherever I am and if I am lucky and can send a message instantly to anyone in the world.  If I do have family far away, I can push a button and see there face in real time or I can chat with them throughout the day, no matter what I am doing via text.  I have access to every song, to every book that was ever written, with the push of a button.  Wonder what they would've thought about that in the dark ages?

I'm grateful that I can choose what I want for dinner, without having to go out and kill it for my family.  Not only do I get to choose between 10's of 1000's of choices of what to eat or what not to eat, but I don't have to cook it if I don't want to, I can sit down at my laptop and push a few buttons and Sushi, hand rolled by a man from Japan arrives at my door in 20 minutes.  I imagine that's a little better than say, Lamb stew and bread every day.

I'm thankful for travel and the ease in which we travel pretty freely throughout our country and the world and space for that matter, I hear Justin Bieber is going there. For about a $150, if plan properly, I can leave my doorstep and be in the lights of the Vegas strip, or New York and enjoy a great show.  I don't have to walk to work or ride a horse, I can be there in 20 minutes.  If I want to move away from my town, it won't take six months, I can probably pack a truck and be somewhere new in a few hours.

I'm thankful for schools and education.  I know it's not perfect and it's expensive, but everyone has access to texts books and tutorials and while we might not all be able to receive the same fancy degree from the same fancy schools, we have libraries and text available on-line and if we are driven all have access to the same knowledge, if we are willing to work for it.

I'm thankful for air-conditioning and heat, for freedom of religion and press, for refrigerators and sidewalks, hospitals and ambulances, internet games and baseball, for my family and friends.  There are plenty of things to be thankful for if we look at things the right way.  Contrary to popular belief, we are living in some of the most amazing times in the History of the world.  We are lucky to be here today, people throughout the history of time would die for just a week in our shoes and did give their lives so that we could be here, right NOW.

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~tilly