We Give Thanks

So I've really been considering today what I'd be thankful for. As I said, I don't want it to be hoo hum things. Today was tough. It was all house work and cleaning and taking down Halloween decorations, putting up one or two things for Thanksgiving. The title of today's blog comes from a set of Holiday blocks my sister gave me for Christmas last year. There are twenty some odd blocks, with letters on four sides and they are numbered and a paper tells you what order to put them to have them say things. There aren't enough blocks for Happy Thanksgiving, so the choices were: November, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving, or We Give Thanks.

The last one struck me. Do I really give thanks where thanks is due? Do I say it often enough to the people I see every day or once a year? Am I thankful when I say Thank You? I've also been watching the election races. I won't say who I voted for, simply that I did. (We voted early last week, since we needed to get registered here having lived here for the last 6 months, we figured we should vote here) It also made me think of the other option for this month on my blocks, Veteran's Day. It is a holiday close to my heart since I am married to such a man. All these things have been tossing around my thoughts as I thought about what I was grateful for.

I've settled on this, a bit generic, but I really am grateful. Today I am grateful for the freedoms I'm entitled to for living in this country and the people who have fought and continued to fight for them. I take pride in the fact that my children will be able to claim a three generation legacy of service to this great nation. Today, of all days I suppose, it feels fitting. I know Independence Day is the celebration of the birth of our country, but really Voting day is the best way to show our gratitude to our founding Fathers and all those who fought and have come after so we might have what we have.

Today we were given the opportunity to make our voices heard. Today, we were given a privilege countless millions of people around the world may never know. We were given the right to change the course of our lives, by choosing the path our country would take! How exciting is that? If you didn't vote, I wish you would have. I am a firm believer that one of the greatest disgraces is not to vote when you can. I understand that certain circumstances may prevent you from getting to the booth, but laziness, I hope was not the reason. 

This election may set the course for my LIFE! I know that sounds a bit melodramatic, but it is these men and women that vote or give the privilege to our President, to send our service men and women around the world. Those decisions effect me, and thousands of families on a very personal level! So, I voted not only because I don't want to see the privilege taken away, but because to not do so would be to dishonor those that serve to protect that right. The way I vote, the way you vote, effects big and small things. I'm not saying that our voting rights are hanging in the balance, but perhaps one day, they might be if we take them too lightly. I read an article today that said that exit polls were surprised to find that

"a remarkable 25 percent of the electorate was age 65 and over – a big jump from the 2008 election when only 15 percent of the electorate was age 65 and over.
And the early data also suggested that younger voters were not responding to urgent pleas from Obama and Democratic leaders to vote in the way they had in 2008.Young voters (those age 18 to 29) accounted for 10 percent of the voters; in 2008 they accounted for 18 percent of the electorate.Only 3 percent of 2010 voters said they were voting for the first time — a sharp drop-off from 2008 when 11 percent of the electorate was first-term voters." (By Tom Curry National affairs writer msnbc.com)

 I'm sad to say, I am part of the generation that is slacking instead of stepping up. The 2008 elections had a lot of hype surrounding them. I'm sad to say that I know more than one person that has said they voted for our current President because they wanted to be known as the generation that Voted in the first black President. I'm not going to get on my soap box about it, except to say this, that was a poor reason to vote, but at least you voted. So my Generation I hope in the future, whether or not you're rallied by the famous, the infamous, the lure of proxy fame or what-have you, just get out and VOTE!

So today I am thankful for my Country and those that SERVE it in uniform or in the Voting booth. Today, I say Thank You to YOU!