Most of us could kvetch all day long.  Everyday there are countless things that displease us and seem to go wrong- wrong with the world, wrong with our lives, wrong with our work, wrong with our families, wrong with other people- wrong with us. 

 In America we maintain one day for trying to suppress our kvetching.  We call it Thanksgiving and base it on loose truths and many myths about Pilgrims, Native Americans and good ole turkeys.  We eat too much, mutter small talk with relatives, watch football games and spend a lot of time cleaning up the kitchen.

 Yet, the core of Thanksgiving is vital to a good life.  Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, suggested that, in thankfulness, a person’s relationship to God and others gives birth to a self-awareness that constitutes his being.  Gratitude consists of a warm sense of appreciation for something or somebody; a sense of goodwill toward people and things; and a disposition to act that follows from appreciation and goodwill.

In ordinary life we seldom realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.  It is with gratitude that we recognize that we are connected to each other in a mysterious way that is not fully determined by physical forces, but is part of a wider or transcendent ecology.

 Andy and I know this.  We try to balance our kvetching by practicing gratitude and in doing so we are learning to take the long view on our lives and allow gratitude to help our brains track our success and notice what is right in our lives.  In the long run it hardly matters what is wrong with our lives.  There will always be ‘wrong’- painful, awful, ugly, unimaginable ‘wrong’.  The human heart will always ache from betrayals, wounding and inflictions, but it may also rejoice in gratitude.  Gratitude makes us feel complete, that we have everything we need, at least in this moment.

 So in this moment, we wish to quietly rejoice in you.  You are not just customers.  You are not just clients.  You are not just vendors.  You are our nourishment and in hundreds of nuanced ways you feed our spirits with gestures of kindness and simple words of thoughtfulness and acknowledgment.  Your emails make us smile; your handshakes strengthen our confidence; your greetings encourage us; your phone conversations connect us beyond their subject matters of viruses, networks, and hard drives; your homemade cookies delight us; your questions challenge us; your inquiries about our wellbeing generate tenderness; and your trust inspires us to serve.

 We are grateful for you. 

May each day be Thanksgiving and may there always be diamonds at your feet.

Andy Pizer and Jinx Davis
Millennium Group