When I started digging into the idea of gratitude a few years back, I was surprised at how deep I could go.

In my recovery from alcoholism, I was basically taught to identify and rid myself of fear. One way of doing that was to recognize the things for which I am grateful.

Of course, my wife, my family, my dog, my job, my friends, my coworkers and those kind of things were easy to think of and are my main source of gratitude. As I pondered it though, I started to really go back to basics.

Being blown away by the little things is an activity I love. I think that's in part because my gratitude for other things grows as I stop taking the little things for granted. It's also in part because, in consideration of human history, and the conditions that many across the world live in today, these little things are not little. They are huge.

Water

From sea to shining sea, you can turn on a tap and the very source of life flows through it, and you basically have as much clean, clear, cool water as you need. This is not the case in many place outside the United States, and many of those are even first world places. The ready, easy availability of water is a miracle. Since I grew up with it, for most of my life, I didn't look at the faucets in my home as twisty knobs of magic. Now, for some reason, I do. Having a clean source of water just about everywhere around us is astounding, and is one of the things I am truly thankful for.

Safety

Most of us, very thankfully, are safe. We aren't living inside a warlords regime. We aren't in a cartel town. I know that some places are safer than others, even in the United States. I may have a thing for picking safe places to live. There have been more than a few apartments in Colorado that I lived in where I didn't even have a key. We just left the door unlocked. When I park my car in Windsor at 4:30am, I couldn't be any less worried about it being stolen.

Besides the fact that in Northern Colorado and many places across the United States we feel very safe because we have established low crime rates, there are also our first responders.

Imagine this. You are walking down the street. Suddenly, you have chest pains. You might be having a heart attack. Either way, something is going terribly sideways, and you look to a complete stranger and say 'Call an ambulance' before you pass out. How fast will the ambulance arrive? As fast as it can. When you wake, you are in a white room, hooked up to life monitoring and saving machinery, surrounded by professionals whose job it is to help you heal.

That's just a made up scenario. A few weeks ago, I actually had to call the cops on some idiots who were burglarizing my car.

There are teams of people just waiting for us to get in trouble, or cause the trouble, and they are going to rush to the scene to straighten things out. That is amazing. That is something for which to be thankful.

People

The people around us make up the culture we enjoy. In my world, it is filled with charitable givers. They are givers of time, money, love and themselves. They experience something and want to change it so they start a foundation. Or, they feel gratitude and want to give back. Northern Colorado has one of the most giving spirits I have ever seen and it simply seems to build on itself. An event inspires more volunteers. One person who makes a difference makes another realize that they, too, can make a difference.

I am not a recipient of any charity, but seeing the people around me create and run them is another thing for which I am so thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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