Our Opinion: It's the best of times ... and, well, you know

Blessings? What blessings?

There are wars in Ukraine and Gaza and, oh by the way, China still seems restive.

In Washington, testy politicans are waging their own battles, calling each other names and inviting one another to step outside.

And closer to home (uncomfortably close), gun violence continues to ravage local communities.

Even so, the economy seems to be on the mend from a bad case of long COVID.

And though the virus itself lingers, but it’s now a manageable threat, not the fearsome scourge it once was not so long ago.

Meanwhile, decisions by Toyota and Boom Supersonic to locate new plants here head a list of impressive wins for the Triad and the state this year.

And just in time for Christmas, Medicaid expansion fnally will take effect on Dec. 1, providing health coverage for as many as 600,000 uninsured North Carolinians.

So, yes, as we stumble toward the finish line, 2023 has been more a marathon than a sprint, but we’re moving forward all the same.

Even in times like these, there is something to be thankful for.

Here’s hoping that everyone will be able to share the holiday with people we love, even if we don’t always agree.

After all, if Presidents Biden and Xi can smile and shake hands, surely we can pass the dressing and the gravy in peace this week.

In that spirit we’ll share with you some of our favorite reflections on Thanksgiving:

It becomes us to set apart a day for gratefully acknowledging the divine goodness and celebrating the important event which we owe to His benign Interposition.

— George Washington

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

Intoxicated with unbroken success we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.

— Abraham Lincoln

Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds.

— Theodore Roosevelt

Searching our hearts, we should ask what we can do as individuals to demonstrate our gratitude to God for all He has done. Such reflection can only add to the significance of this precious day of remembrance.

Let us recommit ourselves to that devotion to God and family that has played such an important role in making this a great Nation, and which will be needed as a source of strength if we are to remain a great people.

— Ronald Reagan

I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.

— Henry David Thoreau

If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.

— Meister Eckhart

This food is the gift of the whole universe — the earth, the sky, and much hard work. May we live in a way that makes us worthy to receive it.

— Thich Nhat Hanh

If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share.

— W. Clement Stone

Over the river and through the wood

To grandfather’s house we go.

The horse knows the way