GIVE THANKS THIS DAY: OUR BLESSINGS ARE MANY

The times seem busier than ever. Today, however, we engage in what should be an effortless endeavor, that of giving thanks. Too often, we make it a chore ... or worse, we overlook our many blessings. This is Thanksgiving, a day when good fortune and the richness of our lives stare us in the face. We celebrate the bounty that comes to us as Americans and give thanks.

It has become a media ritual to weigh the national mood each Thanksgiving, as though the degree of prosperity should determine our inclination to acknowledge our many gifts. The apparent mood of the country, if pollsters and a great many news agencies are to be believed, is misdirected apprehension. Americans are edgy, tentative about issues foreign and domestic ... and we are hard-pressed to figure out why.

Look at what has transpired since last Thanksgiving. We believe it is a source for ~inspiration, not trepidation.

At this time a year ago, American military forces were being dispatched overseas, ready to defend democracy against a Middle East despot. Before a confrontation became necessary, thousands of additional troops would be sent to the Persian Gulf. We could not have known at that time that Operation Desert Storm would be so successful, that so few American lives would be lost in a cause almost universally regarded as just. In addition, we had only an inkling that, as a side effect of this effort, Americans would discover in this mission such a point of unity and a reason for self-confidence.

Also in the past year, America, long the world's beacon of democracy, has witnessed the continued crumbling of oppressive regimes. The Soviet Union collapsed under the weight of its totalitarian policies. What had been viewed as an "evil empire" as recently as the mid-1980s was no longer even an empire. Like the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc before it, the Soviet failure could not have been realistically foreseen.

How can these events not speak to the rightness of America's principles and the nation's ability to promote freedom at home and abroad? As blessings are counted today, liberty is a good one for the top of the list.

Does America have problems? Absolutely. As is the case every Thanksgiving, and throughout history, there are people who are less fortunate, people whose lives have not matched the prosperity of the societies in which they live. In Cape Girardeau and the region, many charitable people are sensitive to these realities and work to comfort those with needs. The list is considerable of agencies, churches, civic organizations and other entities, almost all in the private sector, that reach out to persons, especially during the holiday season.

Anxiety with the times is self-generated and out of step with the many recent achievements of this nation. Our blessings are many and should not be discounted on this day.