Happy Thanksgiving!
With one day to go before the big holiday, what do we have to be thankful for in this pandemic world that we live in?
2020 will be a difficult year to celebrate Thanksgiving, like no other year in anyone’s memory.
We are fighting a horrible pandemic, and fighting it with mixed messages from our supposed leaders.
They tell us to stay home, they tell us to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world, they tell us to talk turkey only amongst our closest family members.
Yet, the don’t practice what they preach, such as the self-appointed governor of the coronavirus, Andrew Cuomo of New York, who told his constituents again and again to isolate themselves during this pandemic Thanksgiving, yet was going to celebrate the holiday by being with a few family members, including his 92-year-old mother, so non-isolation and some travel would be involved in his holiday musings.
Of course, once word got out that he was going to do this, he backtracked, stating that on second thought, this wasn’t going to happen after he received a tremendous backlash on social media.
I mean, this is also the guy who has traveled out of state yet tells others not to do so, so you kind of expected it from him.
And he had the audacity to blame his mother for his meanderings, stating that he did it for mom because “how many Thanksgivings does she have left (my paraphrase),” related to his mom’s advanced age.
And you wonder why so many in this country, young and old, do not take this pandemic seriously?
Wishy-washy leaders will do this to you. You simply do not know who—or what—to believe.
My family and I will be celebrating the holiday as we normally do, with a small get-together at my sister’s house. We have been in contact with her and her family numerous times since the pandemic hit, so we do feel safe, but we will take the proper precautions—as will she—to ensure a nice feast.
But what do we have to be thankful for this year?
Honestly, this is not such an easy subject to contemplate or to answer right now, as this has been a horrid year for all of us.
Personally, my son and I were out of work for very long stretches, but we are both thankful that someone believe in us enough to give us a shot, so we are both thankful for those people who went out on the limb for us, even after months and months of inactivity.
And even more personally, I am thankful for my father—who we lost just a few weeks ago—for in his own way setting me on the right path to get something before he left us. He went out knowing that his son was employed, even in a part-time, remote way, and at least I was able to show him I still had “it” while he could appreciate it.
I am certainly thankful for my immediate family, for sticking with me during a horrid period of my life. While others shunned me, my family backed me up 1,000 percent on my quest for employment.
I have the best wife, the best children, and the best parents one could ever dream to have, and they backed me, listened to me, gave me shoulders to cry on, and were there when I needed them, so yes, I am thankful for them.
Sure, they did not have much of a choice, but whenever I needed to talk or to vent, they were there, which is more than I can say for some others in my life who treated me as if I had some type of catchable disease separate from the coronavirus.
And yes, I am thankful for my health and the health of my family during this pandemic.
We had a scare, we survived the scare, we had family members who suffered from the illness but survived, and at the moment, we are all doing well, so yes, I am thankful that our health has stood up during this horrible time when so many people are suffering.
And I am thankful that even when I was at my lowest point, I was always able to put food on the table, unlike others we see today who have nothing—no job, no means of support, and no way to provide for their families.
I often wonder why they are in such circumstances. Even at my lowest point, I was careful with whatever money I had, as was my son. I know that everyone’s circumstances are different, but I think the situation that we are in shows how many people live on the edge.
I watch the newscasts showing hundreds of cars in food lines, and I see all the late model cars in that line. I wonder with unemployment payments, and with the thought that you do have to put away money for a rainy day, why so many people who were of means just a few weeks or months ago are currently on food lines.
I have been bankrupt in my life. My wife and I went through that a few years back, when the money walls came tumbling down on us.
We learned a lot during this period, including the fact that the good times can only last so long, and that things can be just around the corner to upset your personal applecart.
From what I am seeing, even wealthy people with good jobs were living from paycheck to paycheck, not saving one dime when they lived their over the top lifestyles.
Then the gorilla from around the corner—the pandemic—hit, they lost their jobs, and their savings accounts which had been nil were even “nil-er” now, even with unemployment payments.
Yesterday on the CBS Evening News, they had a story on these food lines, and how many people on these lines were there for the very first time.
They interviewed several people, and they asked one woman if she had any savings going into her current unemployment that could have prevented her from her current situation on a food line, and she quickly and succinctly told them “No.”
Living beyond your means is fine as long as you can cover it, but take it from me, when you can’t, there is no sugarcoating it.
I simply wonder how many people on those lines, like that woman, never prepared for a rainy day. My wife and I didn’t a few years back, but we certainly did after we sunk to the lowest depths that we could sink to.
And through my own situation, while I came close to collapse—in particular, early on when for weeks the New York State Department of Labor refused to budge and would not give me an unemployment insurance because of an error they made 25 years ago on my account—I never bent, and I always had enough—barely—to hold on.
How so many people cannot say the same thing is bewildering, but not al all surprising.
So I am thankful that myself and my family go through all of this in one piece.
I think that that pretty much sums it all up.
We managed, what can I say?
I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving, even if you are just having a turkey dinner alone in front of your television.
Stay safe, and I will speak to you again on Monday.
And please, be safe on Black Friday.
This year, “shopping ‘til you drop” has taken on a different meaning than in other years, and I do want all of you to be healthy and happy for the remainder of this year into 2021.
And no, at this point, I do not even want to contemplate what Thanksgiving 2021 will look like.
Let’s take one year at a time.
With one day to go before the big holiday, what do we have to be thankful for in this pandemic world that we live in?
2020 will be a difficult year to celebrate Thanksgiving, like no other year in anyone’s memory.
We are fighting a horrible pandemic, and fighting it with mixed messages from our supposed leaders.
They tell us to stay home, they tell us to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world, they tell us to talk turkey only amongst our closest family members.
Yet, the don’t practice what they preach, such as the self-appointed governor of the coronavirus, Andrew Cuomo of New York, who told his constituents again and again to isolate themselves during this pandemic Thanksgiving, yet was going to celebrate the holiday by being with a few family members, including his 92-year-old mother, so non-isolation and some travel would be involved in his holiday musings.
Of course, once word got out that he was going to do this, he backtracked, stating that on second thought, this wasn’t going to happen after he received a tremendous backlash on social media.
I mean, this is also the guy who has traveled out of state yet tells others not to do so, so you kind of expected it from him.
And he had the audacity to blame his mother for his meanderings, stating that he did it for mom because “how many Thanksgivings does she have left (my paraphrase),” related to his mom’s advanced age.
And you wonder why so many in this country, young and old, do not take this pandemic seriously?
Wishy-washy leaders will do this to you. You simply do not know who—or what—to believe.
My family and I will be celebrating the holiday as we normally do, with a small get-together at my sister’s house. We have been in contact with her and her family numerous times since the pandemic hit, so we do feel safe, but we will take the proper precautions—as will she—to ensure a nice feast.
But what do we have to be thankful for this year?
Honestly, this is not such an easy subject to contemplate or to answer right now, as this has been a horrid year for all of us.
Personally, my son and I were out of work for very long stretches, but we are both thankful that someone believe in us enough to give us a shot, so we are both thankful for those people who went out on the limb for us, even after months and months of inactivity.
And even more personally, I am thankful for my father—who we lost just a few weeks ago—for in his own way setting me on the right path to get something before he left us. He went out knowing that his son was employed, even in a part-time, remote way, and at least I was able to show him I still had “it” while he could appreciate it.
I am certainly thankful for my immediate family, for sticking with me during a horrid period of my life. While others shunned me, my family backed me up 1,000 percent on my quest for employment.
I have the best wife, the best children, and the best parents one could ever dream to have, and they backed me, listened to me, gave me shoulders to cry on, and were there when I needed them, so yes, I am thankful for them.
Sure, they did not have much of a choice, but whenever I needed to talk or to vent, they were there, which is more than I can say for some others in my life who treated me as if I had some type of catchable disease separate from the coronavirus.
And yes, I am thankful for my health and the health of my family during this pandemic.
We had a scare, we survived the scare, we had family members who suffered from the illness but survived, and at the moment, we are all doing well, so yes, I am thankful that our health has stood up during this horrible time when so many people are suffering.
And I am thankful that even when I was at my lowest point, I was always able to put food on the table, unlike others we see today who have nothing—no job, no means of support, and no way to provide for their families.
I often wonder why they are in such circumstances. Even at my lowest point, I was careful with whatever money I had, as was my son. I know that everyone’s circumstances are different, but I think the situation that we are in shows how many people live on the edge.
I watch the newscasts showing hundreds of cars in food lines, and I see all the late model cars in that line. I wonder with unemployment payments, and with the thought that you do have to put away money for a rainy day, why so many people who were of means just a few weeks or months ago are currently on food lines.
I have been bankrupt in my life. My wife and I went through that a few years back, when the money walls came tumbling down on us.
We learned a lot during this period, including the fact that the good times can only last so long, and that things can be just around the corner to upset your personal applecart.
From what I am seeing, even wealthy people with good jobs were living from paycheck to paycheck, not saving one dime when they lived their over the top lifestyles.
Then the gorilla from around the corner—the pandemic—hit, they lost their jobs, and their savings accounts which had been nil were even “nil-er” now, even with unemployment payments.
Yesterday on the CBS Evening News, they had a story on these food lines, and how many people on these lines were there for the very first time.
They interviewed several people, and they asked one woman if she had any savings going into her current unemployment that could have prevented her from her current situation on a food line, and she quickly and succinctly told them “No.”
Living beyond your means is fine as long as you can cover it, but take it from me, when you can’t, there is no sugarcoating it.
I simply wonder how many people on those lines, like that woman, never prepared for a rainy day. My wife and I didn’t a few years back, but we certainly did after we sunk to the lowest depths that we could sink to.
And through my own situation, while I came close to collapse—in particular, early on when for weeks the New York State Department of Labor refused to budge and would not give me an unemployment insurance because of an error they made 25 years ago on my account—I never bent, and I always had enough—barely—to hold on.
How so many people cannot say the same thing is bewildering, but not al all surprising.
So I am thankful that myself and my family go through all of this in one piece.
I think that that pretty much sums it all up.
We managed, what can I say?
I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving, even if you are just having a turkey dinner alone in front of your television.
Stay safe, and I will speak to you again on Monday.
And please, be safe on Black Friday.
This year, “shopping ‘til you drop” has taken on a different meaning than in other years, and I do want all of you to be healthy and happy for the remainder of this year into 2021.
And no, at this point, I do not even want to contemplate what Thanksgiving 2021 will look like.
Let’s take one year at a time.
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