This week it is Thanksgiving in America, for those of you that aren’t too familiar with it, it is a public holiday that is essentially an expression of gratitude. More people celebrate it than Christmas due to it being a secular holiday. My interest in it is only a passing one. I have a sister that lives over in the U.S so anything I do know is more out of curiosity as to what she is getting up to. What I have learned is that copious amounts food are consumed, including Roast Turkey with all the trimming, Yams (don’t even know what they are) and Pumpkin pie (very tasty) and of course American Football. My interest in this has waned since Jarryd Hayne got the chop! One of the more traditional things on this day is the dissection of the turkey and the extraction of the wish bone. I’m sure most of you know drill with this, 2 people pull it apart, and the person with the bigger part gets to make a wish.

After reading about this I started to wonder what happens to the person who gets the smaller piece of the wishbone. Does granting one person’s dream mean that the other person loses out? In doing this are we teaching kids from an early age that whoever grabs the bigger piece will win. Has this  been engrained into our psyche as adults? As we get older the wishbone is just a representation of bigger and more valuable things. Our goals in life are all different, but should we be trying to attain them at the expense of having better values? Who do you need to stand over to get where you want to be. What is the price you have to pay? Whether it’s personal loss or at the expense of those close to you, do the choices you make have an effect on others?

This year more than any, Thanksgiving probably hasn’t come at a better time. In a month were everyone is aware what’s been going on around the world with terrorism it seems an ideal time to take stock of the good things that you have going on for you. No matter how bad you think you’re situation is, all you have to do is glance at the nearest news station or social media to realise how brutal human beings can be to each other. It doesn’t matter what religion you practice or what area of the world you live in surely people can practice the most basic principles of being a decent person. In this age of decadence it’s always good to sit and appreciate what you’ve achieved and attained in your life already, and not always be looking towards what you need or what you must do. Just being thankful and grateful may change your life for the better.

At some point in life the need for change will hit most of us. It’s either a burning desire or an empty feeling where you believe in your heart and soul that you are looking for something more. You wake up one morning and you realise that something has changed and there is no going back. You can sweep it under the rug or hide it in a place that no one else can see, but at some point it’s coming to the surface. I think the world in general is reaching that point. It’s a tipping point where we head into total chaos and or else we start to makes changes that bring us back from the point of no return. So rather than teach kids to grab a bigger slice of the pie, wouldn’t we be better off teaching them how to live using simple concepts like honesty, integrity and humility? Because I’m fairly certain this generation is pretty fucked. Greed seems to be the overriding factor for most of us and I include myself in this. So rather than changing a face to a flag on social media why don’t we sit back and ask ourselves what have we done to contribute to all these problems and more importantly what can we do to change.

When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too – Paulo Coelho