It's Thanksgiving in the US. What am I thankful for?

Not being at war at the moment.

The looming shadow of war changed my Thanksgiving plans. A family member, a naval aviator, is being deployed from the Pacific to the middle east before year end, and couldn't join us. I hope for peace.

My freedoms and the ordinary people who protect them.

My liberties are ensured by people who uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution. Librarians, the ACLU, the kid who won't pray in school, voters. For doing your little bit, I thank you.

The economy.

Thanks for the life lessons in humility and determination. My BS detector has been scrubbed clean and retuned. So much of what I know is wrong, unproven, or both. It's refreshing, if occasionally embarassing, to challenge all of my education and assumptions.

I'm thankful everyone I know is not going hungry. Too many children in the U.S. will go to bed hungry tonight. And millions around the world risk death by starvation. I'd like to see an end to famine in my lifetime.

My family.

The older I get, the more they matter. My brothers are in love with good women. My father and sister are happily married to to great people. My extended family, cousins, et al. They enrich my life.

My health.

Still got it.

The people I meet.

You're included. The whole blogosphere and fellow Ryzers (land of the schmooze). Kloggers, and lefties, and journos, and people of faith.

The Canter Crowd. Der UserLanders. The World of Human Capitol. Foresight Senior Associates.

The brilliant strangers I meet on Oakland's and Berkeley's streets, alleys, and gutters.

My neighbors.

I live in a marvelous apartment building in the Adams Point neighborhood of Oakland. The 40+ households would make a strongly flavored, fragrant, complex soup. They don't know it but they keep me real.

My armorors.

Some people bleed code to create the many tools I use daily. The UserLand crew. Microsoft. Intuit. Thanks for being creative, following your intuition, and making products that save lives, bring people together, and help us earn our daily bread, find our voices, and discover meaning. Thanks.  

Thanks, y'all.