Happy Thanksgiving 2012

My Thanksgiving dinner. That’s faux turkey. Scrumptious.

Today is Thanksgiving here in Canada. A day to reflect on the past year and to give thanks to the many blessings we have received throughout it. I think that sometimes I spend more time complaining, and it’s on a day like this where I feel the most foolish, only because it becomes obvious how I take for granted the life that I have been fortunate to have been given.

We definitely don’t choose our parents. Many of us have to make the best with what we’re given. I don’t have a relationship with my immediate or even extended family; I am who I am in spite of them, and that’s what I am most grateful for: Somehow the universe gave me a brain that I use.

My life could have turned out very different. I could still be living in fear, denying who I am. For so long I was without a self-esteem. It’s been a long and arduous journey of self-discovery but I believe that I have made it through to the other side and I am a better person for it.

I don’t know where I got the courage, or the resilience. There were times that I didn’t think I was going to make it and wallowed in self-pity, but that was only natural. For a long time I was surrounded by individuals who tried to make me feel less than, who excluded me to make themselves feel superior.

The universe has given me many challenges. From birth I have been consistently presented with damaged individuals who lack compassion or empathy for everyone but themselves. I haven’t coped as well as I could have. I always wonder why that is, what life did I live before that indicated this was a problem I was meant to solve?

What I have learned is that you can’t control how other people perceive the world. You can only control how you live, react and cope to stressful people and situations.

So on Thanksgiving I would like to thank all those troubled people who have tried to tear others down to make themselves feel big and important. I thank you because you have demonstrated to me what not to be. You have shown me that tolerance far outweighs bitterness and anger.

Life is about moving forward and brightening your surroundings, not living under a dark cloud of gloom and despair. I’m thankful that I eventually figured this out, because I could have easily become one of those entitled people who felt that the world owed him everything.

On Thanksgiving I come to understand that personal growth is the ultimate goal.