Sometimes it seems like folks are getting more selfish by the day.
Is it just me? Or hav eyou noticed it also?
Today, back in the US, it’s Thanksgiving. I was brought up in Hot Springs, Virginia believing that Thanksgiving is a holiday about thankfulness, familly and generosit. A day set aside to remember all of the good things and people in my life.
That seems to be changing.
It seems Thanksgiving is getting more about gluttony -- and less about sharing a meal with the family. Instead, people put themselves into a turkey-driven coma, wait a few hours and then do it gain.
Don’t forget about shopping. Black Friday. Cyber Monday -- the best deals of the decade, enywehre. Everywhere. You can buy all that stuff that you don’t need because, well, you’re getting a deal.
Seems that too many people are spending money they don’t have, on things they can’t afford, to impress people they don’t like anyway.
Me? I find it distrubing. Not the meals or deals, but the whole focus-change that is going on.
Getting food. Getting food. Getting a good deal. Getting a discoun. Getting. Getting. Getting.
What ever happened to giving?
What ever happened with focusing on other people?
What ever happened to selflessness and service and gratitude and appreciation?
It’s disappearing and not just during the holidays, but in people in general.
It bothers me so today I’m going to put my foot down.
I’m not eating a Thanksgiving meal. I’m not going shopping. I’m going to try not to think about myself at all.
Instead, I’m just going to be thankful. You know, that expression of what the holiday was originally about?
And do you know what I’m thankful for?
I’m mainly thankful for my beautiful wife, Alejandra. She’s spunky enough to keep me in line and kind enough to look the other way when I screw up. She’s created a safe haven for a gringo and has allowed her life to be turned upside down as I come tromping through.
I’m also grateful for you. I don’t even know you, but you read my scribblings. You share the posts with your friends and you help keep me going.
Without your -- and dAle’s -- support, I'd be in a nursing home somewhere hooked up to a morphine drop watching Jerry Springer all day long. That’s where old farts like me end up. We’re shoved into a back room where no one has to watch.
But that hasn’t happened to me.
Instead of tossing my opinionated, gruff ol' self into a back room, you’ve put me front and center and asked me to speak. Through my scribblings, rantings and ravings, you’ve given me a microphone powerful enough to reach the entire globe.
In return for that, you’ve only asked for one thing
That I tell you the truth as I see it.
Not just life tips and tricks. Not just the occasional bit of truism or the rare tidbit of wisdom, not the murkey, smoky, filtered version of reality fed to us by the mainstream media and candy-ass politically correct whiners. But rather the brutal, unflinching, hit-me-between-the-eyes honesty.
So, thank you.
Thank you for allowing me to be, in some way, a part of your daily reading diet.
Jerry Nelson is an internationally known photojournalist. Born and raised in America, Jerry is now based in South America where he lives in Buenos Aires with his beautiful wife Ale and their sleepy cat, Tommy. Busy on assignment, Jerry is always interested in discussing future work and assignments. Contact him today.
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