Growing up in a big family holidays were always crazy. My family never really had any traditions, and the older everyone has gotten the harder it has been to match our schedules up, because of that we have to find other days throughout the year to “make up” holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Despite the fact that we can’t always celebrate them traditionally, that doesn’t mean that we can’t celebrate them at all.

This has been a long and tumultuous week for communities across the nation. It has been filled with hate, anger, bitterness, and resentment. For some its been deja vu, for others its been a time of confusion and questions. During this time it is easy to think we have the answer, but coincidentally this week is not about answers. It isn’t about what is fair or unfair, it isn’t about who is right and who is wrong. This week is about thanks. Thanks for what we have, thanks for where we live,  and thanks that as a nation we have been the change that we want to see throughout the world. As individuals we are not perfect, as communities we are not perfect, and as a nation we are not perfect. People make mistakes, accidents happen, and sometimes the consequences that those mistakes and accidents have carrying a significant amount of pain and sorrow. However, this week we are thankful.

This week is not about color, it isn’t about religion, it isn’t about belief. This week is a time when we come together, a time when we meet for one day out of the year, as friends, as families, as communities, and as a country, and we say thank you. We say thank you to the men and women who have sacrificed so much throughout the course of history. We thank our parents and we thank our siblings. And while we gather together to lift up that thanks it is important that we remember the second part of the word. Because this week is not just about what we are thankful for in our lives, this week is about what we give to other people. This week is about giving, just as much as it is about saying thank you.

When we have so much, it is very easy to appreciate so little. So while we are stuffing our faces, while were cheering on our team, while we are laughing with family members and friends, appreciate the small things. Be thankful that we live in a free country, be thankful that even though we are not perfect, we have the ability to be change. We are the greatest country in the world, not because we have a democrat or republican president, we are the greatest country because every generation brings change. Every generation has hopes and dreams, and it is through those hopes and dreams that was born the constitution. It was through those dreams that the emancipation proclamation was written. It was through that hope that Nazism was destroyed. It was through that hope that brought forth ‘I have a dream’. So today, as we give thanks for what we have, who we have, and where we live, remember those hopes and dreams. Remember that no one is perfect. And above all, thank God that we live in a country born and sustained through selflessness.