#36 Giving Thanks

This past Thanksgiving I spent  time taking stock of the many reasons I have to be thankful.  Like everyone I have had the ups and downs and good and bad times of life--losing love ones is always hard, but mostly I have lived a very bountiful life -- so far -- and who knows what the rest of it will bring.

I hope all of you can say the same.  I had a varied career in state government and for the last  twenty years I was fortunate to have a job that I loved -- challenging and varied, working with coworkers that I liked and respected.  I felt so lucky to work in a very supportive, progressive and collegial environment where I had a voice.

Having a voice is important.  We all want to be heard, we all want to believe that we matter, and we all want to think that we have something meaningful to contribute to our workplace -- why else would we have been hired (we ask ourselves).  But do workers these days really have an opportunity to contribute with their voice, their talents, or are they just instructed from above and told what to do?  Being directed to do something in a certain way without any thought does not lead an employee to feel valued.

What has happened?   We thought our comfortable middle class lifestyle, with good paying jobs, would last forever.  We thought this country would always remain strong and American corporations, government institutions and political leaders all had our collective best interests at heart.  We just assumed they would take care of us.  We forgot that not so long ago others who came before  had to win hard fought battles for equal opportunity, good jobs with decent pay, safe working conditions and fair treatment at work -- supposedly a merit system in government.  We became complacent --  yet we expected all of these rights and liberties to last forever.

Nothing lasts forever unless we stand up and demand it.  It is just human nature.  While no one was paying attention, those who could  got greedy; they thought only of themselves first -- higher salaries, bonuses, bigger pensions, and lavish houses -- these are all part of the deal.  Their ego demands it.  And they will conspire with others and compromise everything just to get what they want -- the end justifies the means.

The saying that "bad can only happen when good people do nothing" is so true.  So as we head into the holiday season my wish for all of you is that you will reflect on the things that you are thankful for and find the resolve to be willing to fight for them.  We need to ensure that our children have things be thankful for on the future Thanksgivings of their lives -- so that they too can live a bountiful life.