11 22 02

This
is the time of the year when everyone starts getting weepy and
teary eyed in their annual efforts to explain how thankful they
are for whatever. While I don’t wish to rain upon anyone’s parade,
it does seem to me to be somewhat hypocritical to only express our
thanks for our lifestyles during one week or so each year. I have
told you many times that I love history. Well, if we look back
over the years we should be able to see many improvements in our
lives for which we should be thankful for each and every day, not
just one week out of fifty two. I just learned recently that
penicillin was invented about the time I was born in 1942.

Today infectious diseases only account for about 1/20^th
of the deaths in this country each year as they did in 1900. Of
course, there have been many more improvements and miracle drugs
invented since penicillin came on the scene. When is the last time
you thought about being thankful for the miracle drugs and medical
discoveries that have given us a longer lifespan than say that of
our parents or grandparents? Look at your clothing. Bet you didn’t
realize that the clothing we wear today weighs in about ¼ of the
weight of what we would be wearing at the turn of the twentieth
century. Imagine what summers in Texas were like to those folks
before air-conditioning or even electricity. Look at the abundance
of food products, which we have to choose from today that still
overwhelms visitors from other countries. In most American towns
and cities, we can get strawberries, melons, grapefruit and
oranges just about any day of any week of the year.

Back in the late 1800’s, some folks were paid with oranges, as
they were so rare. A kiwi was an unknown fruit to most of us until
several years ago, but thanks to today’s transportation they’re
commonplace. We’ve all seen photos of meat markets that were very
much in vogue in the early 1900’s. Not too much different in some
parts of the world today. Hanging meat out in the open with flies
and who know what else buzzing around was accepted until we
adopted certain standards for health and sanitation. People used
to die from just eating out of tin cans due to the lead content.
Our laws and modern marketing techniques have pretty much
eliminated this as an issue for those of us in this country.
Packaging of our food products, clothing and nearly every other
consumable item has reached almost scientific levels in our
economy. We don’t buy things in bottles, cans or boxes that hasn’t
been sealed or wrapped properly. As a result our health and
well-being has improved. We should be thankful for this as well.
Look at how we communicate to one another.

Only fifty years ago, getting a long distance phone call was a big
deal in most American households. Now, we do it everyday and think
nothing about it. We use cell phones, the Internet and e-mail as
if they were tools we have all of our lives and for many of us,
they have been there all of their lives. It wasn’t always so. Be
thankful. Our ability to ‘reach out and touch someone’ has
resulted in countless relationships not being broken apart as we
can talk to someone on the other side of the world and explain
what we meant by some careless remark or statement.
Transportation? Cars, planes and trains are faster, more
comfortable, and more economical than they were twenty-five years
ago. The computer I’m typing this column on would have been
unthinkable when I graduated from high school, just forty years
ago. Now we all can have one if we want, at prices, which would
have been unthinkable only a few years ago. Our government? Well,
we are clearly a nation divided, which isn’t a bad thing. We look
at each other and demand an accounting for our respective actions.