As good as it gets

How many times has someone said, "Do you know how lucky you are?"
A hundred? A thousand?
Or did you stop counting when you were 13 because you got sick of being asked?
Most often, that question is posed by aggravated parents to surly children. Naturally, the response is usually a shrug of the shoulders accompanied by a grunt and a stare. Actually, it's a stupid question to ask any kid.

I mean, how can they possibly tell us how lucky they are when they can‘t even figure out how they got acne or remember where they put the remote control clicker.
A better test would be to make the same inquiry of adults.
Face it: The vast majority of working people are so wrapped up in the day—to-day difficulties of staying ahead of the economic hammer that we are oblivious to the obvious.

Like, where would you begin I you were forced this morning --Thanksgiving Day-- to list everything you were thankful for?
Your health and your family's health'? That's a no-brainer. Where would you really begin?
How about waking up?
See what I mean? That's a given; it's taken for granted and never pops up as a possible response to, "Do you know how lucky you are?"

Much of what surrounds us as well as most of what we have are sloughed off as entitlements rather than gifts. For example, you cite the fact you woke up but you probably forget about getting out of bed and standing up.
Thank you for my feet. Some people don't have any.

Go in the bathroom and brush your teeth. If they happen to be in your head instead of a glass, you're ahead on the day.
The radio might be on. Thanks for hearing.
And what is it we hear and ignore?
The sounds of music, a child’s laugh, the wind on the window, birds, people, the life around you.

Move to the kitchen. The food in the refrigerator. The bread in the toaster. The smell of coffee. The sense of being alive.
Electricity, heat, refrigeration, four walls and three squares a day are all added starters. Everybody has that stuff. Don't they?

Take a peek at the items that hang like excess ornaments off the branches of your life — things your parents never dreamed of having -and add them to your list:
A couple of cars perhaps. TV sets. The ability to skip work tomorrow. A choice of shoes to wear. A couple of extra bucks in your pocket.

By the way, you put down eyesight, didn't you? Or is it merely something else we're supposed to have, an automatic rather than an option?

I mean, see the sky?
That grin on your son or daughter‘s face?
The sports page?
The football game?
Grass?
Rain?
The sun, the moon and the stars?

Thank you!

Oops. Thanks for immigration. Without it, some of us would be sitting barside in Limerick, Galway, Milan, San Juan, Santo Domingo, Port au Prince or Ho Chi Minh city this moming.

Oh, hey, how about faith? The ability to believe in something, anything: America, a prayer, the people you love or maybe even yourself.

When you move outdoors, don‘t forget to put on a warm jacket because it’s November and winter is already knocking on the door. Thanks for the coat. You might be surprised at the number of people who don‘t
have a good one.

Thanks for the fact you can walk around, unencumbered by crutches or a wheelchair. Thanks for the freedom of movement that allows you to go from Portland, Maine, to Providence, Rhode Island, without being
stopped at a border and frisked.

Thanks for the paycheck that enabled you to purchase a turkey. Thanks for the job that helps pay health insurance. Thanks for the luck that has meant never having to utilize it tor some draining, lite-threatening illness.

Thanks for Pedro Martinez and warm June nights when he'll be pitching in Fenway. Thanks for Pat Burns and his ability to get a couple of` dozen hockey players to skate as if their lives depended on it almost every time out of the gate.

Thanks for books, Q-Tips, Saran Wrap, garbage disposals, washing machines, dryers, toilet paper, aspirin, doughnuts, Coca-Cola, teachers, cops, firefighters, nurses and ATM machines. Thanks for a sense of humor because it's something that seems to be rapidly disappearing.

And who do we thank anyway?
Well, as long as we're talking about
taking things for granted and how lucky we are,
how about a nice round of applause and a simple thank you
to God.

This story ran on page B01 of the Boston Globe on 11/27/97 .
©   1997 Globe Newspaper Company.