Thanksgiving

I depart from intellectual property on this month’s post to wish you all happy thanksgiving, and to offer a heartfelt “thank you” for your friendship, acquaintance, and business. I don’t recognize my opportunities and blessings enough. I’m hoping to improve, particularly following a recent experience.

This month, through the generosity of another, I was gifted travel for a humanitarian mission to a q’eqchi’ Indian village in the rural mountains of Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. Against the backdrop of a recent, lengthy, and high casualty civil war, as well as rampant land and property dispossession, these families recently banded together to get a loan for a home and land on which to farm. Annual income ranges from between $200 and $1,000 per household. This is very little even by third-world standards. For many reasons, even this simple life will be an uphill battle for these people. Luckily, it is on the radar of some humanitarian organizations, which are imparting sustainable community knowledge and helping out with water supply, a school, and medical care. Despite challenging circumstances, these folks are extraordinary examples to me of persistence, optimism, doing much with little, sharing notwithstanding scarcity, and finding happiness in the small but important things in life. 

In this season, may we all find thanks, giving, and joy in our blessings and hardships. We have much to be grateful for.