It's that time of year again in the US when we gear up for turkey, football, day drinking, and awkward and occasionally painful conversations with family over dinner. Thanksgiving is an American holiday generally associated with food comas and mentally preparing for Black Friday shopping/trampling/brawling, but having to work and being nowhere near large outlet stores means I'm pretty much excluded from those festivities. What I do get to be a part of, though, is the mysterious and often forgotten part of the Thanksgiving holiday: thanks-giving.
I do my best to be thankful and grateful for every opportunity I've been given, all the things I have, and the friends and family in my life, but the fourth Thursday in November is as good a time as any to make my appreciation known. I could go on with a huge laundry list of things I'm thankful for (which I thought to do earlier because I'm lazy as well as thankful) but I thought to focus on at least one thing to talk about. Narrowing down the long list of wonderful stuff to one thing is hard, since beer, sanitation, Patrick Warburton, modern medicine, and national parks exist, but thinking about the remoteness of my home and the upcoming gift-giving holiday season, one thing stood out among the rest.
That thing, of course, is the thing you're using right now to read this; the internet.
Being in the middle of nowhere means a couple things; seeing my friends and family in far-off places is difficult, and not being near malls or stores means Christmas shopping can be hard and limited. Thanks to the internet I can catch up with people via social networks and have most of my gift shopping done at the comfort of my own home. I get to learn things via YouTube (see: TED, Vsauce) and waste my time watching stupid crap... via YouTube. I get my news online along with my bank statements, and I can pay my bills without going to the post office or writing a check. I can talk to my girlfriend with FaceTime, wish my friends in Toronto and elsewhere a happy birthday, and be updated with what my family is up to no matter where they might be. The internet is rad. Thanks, Al Gore.
There are a lot of things to be thankful for, and the information superhighway is just one of them. It's a luxury we're afforded. It's something not a lot of people have, like enough to eat, clean water, and safe haven. Help people when you can (the internet has countless sites that can tell you what you can do) and be thankful for what you have.
Also, be thankful for cat videos. They're great.
Happy Thanksgiving!
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