So here is my prayer for Thanksgiving:
I want to give thanks to all the people that I associate with via the blogosphere. Like the Pilgrims and the Indians, we often come from different backgrounds. And like them, we don't always agree, but we need to find a way to get along, even when we disagree (especially when we disagree). We spend a lot of on-line time working together in all forms of groups. These groups often become polarized, and much anger and vitriol is spewed against those who are "less" enlightened than us. I love passion, and passionate arguments, even when I disagree. It is energizing to have a strong passion for what we do, otherwise why get out of bed?
Thanksgiving is an opportune time to reflect about our relationships to others. As Charles Dickens said so well in "A Christmas Carol" that it is a time to "think of people (around us) as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave", which should give us pause to reflect on the shortness of our time here.
We are all on this planet for only 78 round trips. Some get a few more, many get a lot less. So above all, the first thing that I am (and all of us should be) thankful for is good health. Without it, all the rest really does not count for very much.
So, I would like to summon this spirit to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, and hope that we can re-learn what we were taught as young children: to be nice to others. This is especially needed in the blogosphere, where anonymity and distance cloaks civility and open discourse which oftentimes provokes needless harsh words and enmity. In that spirit of brotherhood (or should I say community), I give thanks to all the people in my life, associates at Maysoft, fellow workers, and fellow bloggers everywhere for the chance to spend a few moments, in person or virtually, together, enriching our shared experience here on earth. Isn't that, after all, what the Indians and Pilgrims were doing at the first Thanksgiving in the year 1621?
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