by John Straka
Here it is, Thanksgiving 2009 and we have so much to be thankful for. I suppose some things could be better. The war, the economy, health care and energy could all stand some improvement, but some things could be a lot worse, too. We are not being bombed and there is no shortage of food. When I look back to the year I was born -- 1917 -- I see so much that I can be thankful for.
When I was a little boy, my father's health did not permit him to work full-time and we were poor. I give thanks that my parents shielded me from that. I do not ever recall hearing them say we were too poor to have what we needed. They saw to it that we did not feel deprived.
I give thanks for my education of eight years of Catholic grade school and four years of public high school. I learned the basics of math, science, English, geography and social studies. Most of all, I found ways to use what I learned. That education made it possible for me to earn a living in a machine shop as a machine operator and as a foreman.
I am thankful for my health. I have no major health problems and have never had major surgery. Conditions due to my age are under control with medication and I eat well, see with eyeglasses and hear with hearing aids. I drive my car without restrictions and that's important to me.
I am thankful for 54 years of marriage to my wife, Helen, who died four and a half years ago, and for my daughter, who means so much to me. I am thankful for all the relatives, friends and neighbors who are or have been part of my life. I remember a time when I took them for granted until one day I realized how many people either have very few friends and/or relatives or who don’t get along with the ones they have.
I give thanks for living at a time in history when so many wonderful things are taking place. I was born before radio, telephone and television. I was born before automobiles, airplanes and space craft. When I was growing up, homes were heated by coal furnaces, food was preserved with ice, laundry was dried outdoors, houses were not insulated, doctors made house calls and almost everything was home delivered.
The first blood transfusion took place about the time I was born, and antibiotics and X-rays were new discoveries. I am glad there is less need for exploratory surgery now that doctors can see inside the body with rays, magnets and scopes.
I am thankful for advances in dental care. My grandmother only had a few teeth left when she died. I have most, but not all of mine and if I wanted to, I could have the missing ones replaced.
I often wonder about people in other parts of the world where they are fighting all the time and where millions people are living in absolute poverty with no health care and not enough to eat. Where people live in fear and pain. Where children do not get even a basic education.
I give thanks for the many opportunities I have had to travel. To travel is to have fun and to learn things that can not be learned any other way. I’ve been to most of the United States, Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, the Mediterranean, Europe and Scandinavia.
Most of all, I thank God for the gift of life. Many people have little respect for life, be it their own or the lives of others.
I wish my readers would stop and think of how their lives would be different if they had been born a mere 100 or 200 years earlier. Before plastics, credit cards, Social Security, public schools, organ transplants, refrigeration, computers, vaccines, photography, anesthetics and all the wonderful things our second- and third-generation ancestors never even imagined could be possible.
A great big than you goes to the Record Publishing Co. for publishing my memories for the past 22-plus years.
Writing this weekly column has given me a new career, a hobby, an education and an opportunity to meet people. It makes me feel important and gives me a good feeling when I find someone who reads and enjoys what I write.
For all of the above, I give thanks and hope my readers will do the same.
Have a happy Thanksgiving Day!