Thankful November – A Month of Gratitude

courtesy/www.outlier.com

Spooky October was a blast, but it’s time to move onto Thankful November. For those just catching on, I write based on a theme every month, or try my best to keep to a theme. It all started a year ago when I had seen everyone else be thankful during November on Facebook. I guess the “game” goes that every status needs to show gratitude for something different every day. I had actually seen this two years ago but I loved the concept enough to participate finally last year. From that, my blog was essentially born.

The deal on Facebook appears to only be for November for Thanksgiving. It struck me back in February that since there’s Valentine’s Day, February would be another fabulous month of showing gratitude except this time as love. So every day in February I discussed something I loved. Then in March, because of St. Patrick’s Day, I was lucky for something every day. It seemed to me there’s a way to be grateful or similar emotion every day for those months. I was talking to my dad about what I was doing and he really liked it. He suggested I write a blog and have a theme every month and write to that theme. And so here I am at Stormy Musings doing just that. The only thing is, I do allow myself to write about more topics also as I see fit.

Because November is where it all began and the notion is to be thankful every day, it is my intention to write about something every day. Needless to say, some posts will be shorter than others. As always there will be select-a-sets but now I’ll be back down to just Thursdays as was the original rule. I do reserve the right to add extra ones but that probably won’t happen this month.

I did this on my Facebook page but I wanted to bring it here too… to start off  Day One: I am thankful to all our military men and women for the sacrifices they, and their family and friends, make for our sake. It is RED (Remember Everyone Deployed) Friday. I wore my red shirt I bought from the nonprofit organization I volunteer for and the dog tag, from the same organization, as part of RED Friday. I can’t lie, my political opinions probably vastly differ from many military folks and others who support the military, but supporting people isn’t about politics. It’s about people.

I hate war, I dislike guns, etc., BUT I am always grateful toward those who are willing to put themselves in harms way so that I may live my life virtually carefree. Freedom isn’t really free and many have paid a hefty price for it in one way or another. Their friends and family have sacrificed a great deal also. I believe it to be very patriotic to not always simply agree with the government, but it’s important to be thankful to those who defend the right to disagree (or to agree as the case may be at times).

I don’t always like the politics behind military action. I don’t always like how the military handles certain things, including it’s own members, but at the end of the day, I’m thinking about how much discomfort those men and women have to tolerate when being so far from home. I think about the sacrifices their families have to make when they have to move from state to state or even out of country, all in the name of serving this country and all of us. I think about the risk they take on by putting on that uniform – they risk their lives but they also risk their mental health. Many men and women haven’t come home from the War on Terror (and previous wars) but also there are many who come home with emotional scarring that the rest of us will never fully understand. The fact they are so willing to take that chance is a big deal. Thank you is usually not even enough to cover when a veteran comes home missing a limb or limbs, or has emotional scarring. Thank you doesn’t cover it knowing that he or she may struggle with finding work once out of the military. Sadly, our veterans are not always treated the best despite supposedly being so highly thought of by many folks, including our own government.

So with that – much gratitude and thanks to our brave military men and women! For all you do and surrender for our benefit – thank you much! I know it doesn’t do much but I hope it’s a start.

Oh… and I hope to end each post with some interesting facts about that day in November. So today – of course, is All Saints Day, but it’s also National Author’s Day, the electric light bulb was patented in 1879 and it’s National Family Literacy Day (a very important day). Get out there and read… celebrate being literate. It is a big deal to be able to read and write.

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