Andy Young: Tough to start, easy to finish

By Andy Young

So how does one start a Thanksgiving-themed 600-word column on gratitude? The best place, I suppose, is at the beginning.

I’m thankful for having had parents and grandparents who loved me and cared enough to reward me when I deserved it but who also possessed the courage and character to rein me in when the situation warranted it. I’m also glad they had the patience and self-control necessary to not punish me every single time I deserved it.

I’m grateful for having a roof over my head, and for residing where it’s not too cold in the winter or too hot in the summer. I also appreciate not being food-insecure and knowing I can safely drink tap water from any faucet in my home.

I’m thankful for my three healthy children, all of whom have already begun to make a positive impact on the world.

I’m grateful for my siblings, who thankfully don’t hold grudges. I know for certain they will be there, if and when I need help. I’m also thankful for my extended family, which consists of cousins, uncles, nieces, nephews, and a few others I’ve designated. I’m also thankful no law specifies that families must consist solely of blood relatives.

I’m fortunate I don’t live in a war zone or someplace plagued by disease and/or poverty. I also fully realize that the vast majority of my blessings are due to the utter coincidence of where, when, and to whom I was born, and I’m thankful I’ve never lost sight of that.

I’m blessed to live in an area free of terrorists and/or hate groups like Isis, Al-Shabaab, or the Ku Klux Klan.

I’m grateful for kind and generous neighbors who treat me like royalty, and who never ask for anything in return.

I’m thankful I learned the difference between “needs” and “wants” at a relatively early age.

I’m even more grateful that my needs and wants are currently identical.

I’m thankful for having the privilege of working alongside individuals who are dedicated to helping high school students reach their full potential and are equally bound and determined to help their colleagues do so as well.

I’m grateful for every bright young person who enters my classroom each day at school and for the parents/guardians who’ve entrusted them to me and my fellow educators.

I’m thankful for my co-workers who’ve become friends, and for my friends who, by happy coincidence, are also my co-workers.

I’m thankful my home is firearm-free, and that my family has no desire or need for guns.

I’m thankful for attentive, considerate drivers who make traveling by bicycle a viable option.

While I’m grateful for all this and more, I’m equally thankful for countless things I don’t have.

For example, I’m thankful I’ve never become dependent upon tobacco, alcohol, gambling, opioids, caffeine, cell phones, or any similar potentially addictive scourges.

I’m thankful I haven’t broken any bones or been concussed in the past decade. I’m also grateful I haven’t contracted poison ivy lately.

I’m grateful I don’t live anywhere near scorpions, fire ants, or venomous snakes.

I’m consciously appreciative of the complete lack of chronically miserable, mean-spirited, petty, vengeful, backstabbing individuals in my life. This includes family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and, it seems to me, every random stranger I encounter.

I’m thankful I don’t have chronic pain or any serious medical concerns at the moment.

I’m grateful for learning yet again that 600 words are nowhere near enough to list everything I’m genuinely thankful for.

But how does one finish writing a Thanksgiving-themed 600-word column on gratitude?

That’s easy.

With the 600th word, of course! <