When I was little, my mom would always ask me what I was thankful for around Thanksgiving. My answers came easily - my toys, my material belongings and football (I grew up in Texas, after all). My mom would tell me that we were luckier than most: I had a roof over my head, I was never hungry, and I had a family who loved me. But, being a child, you don't really appreciate that nearly as much as you should.
The older I get, the more I realize she is right. Although my parents were frugal for the most part, and my sister and I had to work for what we wanted, we were immensely blessed. I went to an excellent school. My friends and I were all able to go on regular vacations all over the world. My parents could give me gifts just because they wanted to. Not everyone has that luxury.
We should be thankful for the small things. It's easy to get wrapped up in frivolous things, but the reality of it is that those things don't matter at the end of the day. Someone can steal them from you. You can lose them in a fire. You could lose your job and have to sell something. Those material items don't define who you are as a person, and while you should be thankful for the ability to own such items, it's the smaller things that generally mean the most.
Family. It's easy to overlook how blessed you are with your family. I always just thought it was something everyone had. But going through grade school, I watched my friends lose their only siblings, or see their parents get divorced. I never understood just how lucky I was to have a family with my birth parents still married, and my sister to still be alive. I am thankful every day for them.
Friends. Again, friends were something I thought everyone just naturally had. It wasn't until middle school when I saw a girl sitting alone at lunch. It was hard to watch her sit by herself, looking around, hoping people weren't judging her for not having someone by her side. I asked her to sit with my friends and I one day, and it made her day. My best friends keep me sane and keep me on my toes. Olivia has been there for me since kindergarten, and although we go to separate schools, I still love her like I love my sister. Brooke and I have been inseparable since 2nd grade, and I am so lucky to have her in my life. Alexis has been my friend for just over a year now, but she has made my time at Arizona State some of the best years of my life.
Health. Granted, I haven't had the best health. I've had surgeries, multiple illnesses, a heart murmur, and surprisingly, chicken pox four times (my mom even had to send my biology teacher proof of my medical records when she said she didn't believe me, so there's that). But all of those are doable. There are people out there with cancer. With AIDS. Alzheimer's. The list goes on and on. I'm able to be thankful that I can live day to day without pain. Others aren't so lucky.
Life. This is a given. Just being alive is a blessing and something to be thankful for. There are people in this world constantly fighting for their life in wars or conflicts. Not everyone has the will to live. Being thankful for something as simple as living is consistently overlooked. Children in other countries are stuck in war zones. They don't know when they will take their last breath. People can complain about the United States, and protest the president-elect, and be - rightfully - upset about discrimination, but we do not understand just how lucky to be in a country where we can complain about it. Where we can protest. Not everyone has that right. Not everyone can not worry about being caught in a war.
This season, please be thankful. It's the little things that turn out to be the biggest.
