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It is very easy for us to reflect upon the news of the day, comment that there is nothing good happening in the world, and thus nothing to be thankful for this coming Thanksgiving. I would like to suggest that this is a rather narrow, myopic view of the world and our lives. Horses were given blinders so that any activity on the side of the road would not startle them, causing them to buck, panic, and endanger the carriage passengers. I’m not suggesting that we purchase blinders, or ignore the events that surround us, but perhaps we have become so attuned to bad news that we have lost the ability to find good news?

I don’t think that it is any more difficult or easier for me; rather, I face the same challenges that we all do. I’ve chosen to adjust my focus. For starters, in the wake of 10.27, it is very rare that I watch the late news. I’m not interested in hearing about the latest violence in Pittsburgh and then retiring for the evening depressed, for what follows is the bad weather forecast followed by another loss by the Pirates (in baseball season obviously). I choose not to be negatively impacted by the evening news, which chooses night after night to depress us as a nation. I focus on the positive. For starters, I’m grateful that I survived 10.27, and value every moment of every day. I’m grateful that my wife is with me, that I have two children, one married, and a granddaughter. I am truly blessed. I’ve had the opportunity to meet some incredible people over these past six years: presidents, vice-presidents, ambassadors, consul generals, governors, attorneys general, senators, state senators and assemblymen, mayors and staff, clergy, CEOs of wonderful organizations, university presidents and faculty, and the list can go on. It continues to be what I like to describe as a six-year episode of “The Twilight Zone”, and I fully expect upon my retirement that Rod Serling will step out of my closet, inform me that I’ve been in an extended run episode which has just ended, and that I can now go home.

I like to refer to all the good that has happened post-10.27 as “unintended positive outcomes”, and there have been far too many to mention. And for all of them, I am blessed. There are some incredible people who are constants in my life that I am grateful for, who support and encourage me, far too many to list. You might be thinking that the uniqueness of my destiny has created opportunities for gratitude, but I disagree. There are people and moments that surround us daily that merit our gratitude, if only we could recognize that gratitude is what we should feel. This is not solely because of Thanksgiving, but perhaps that might be the magic of Thanksgiving. By setting one day apart for gratitude, perhaps, just perhaps, we might be able to extend that gratitude to the day after Thanksgiving (I love leftovers), and the day after that, and so on. I believe that it was the Rev. Jesse Jackson who coined the phrase “an attitude of gratitude”. Let’s start with Thanksgiving, letting the dross of bad news remain in the filter, permitting all the good flow through, and feeling the gratitude of the day. Then try to do the same thing on the next day, and the next, until, like me, you may feel that you are blessed every single day of your life.