My friend Kevin Connolly, the Executive Director of The Center for Nonprofit Excellence, based in Louisville, Kentucky has written a beautiful piece about how important it is that we reflect gratefully on the gifts with which each of us is blessed. He has given me permission to quote his words, and I can add nothing that would improve on his eloquence:

Wonder abounds any time we stop to reflect how unlikely this extraordinary thing called life really is. As we spin on Earth’s axis at some 1000 miles per hour (okay, maybe 950 miles per hour at our latitude), in a galaxy of 3 billion stars, on a planet we share with over 8.7 million other species, the magnitude of the possible begins to stir our imagination beyond its formidable limits.

The capacity of an individual life is equally full of wonder, with 86 billion neurons in our brains, each capable of over 1,000 connections. And when those connections lead to matters of the heart, compassion can engulf our entire community.

When wonder and potential unite in action, you understand the extraordinary achievements that we see at a ballet performance and in a person that walks across America twice to raise funds for his fellow veterans suffering from the horrors of war; or the wonder you hear at the orchestra and when you listen to a person once made helpless by violence, poverty or entitlement gain the power of her own voice as she shares her story of being the first in her family to earn a college diploma.

Happy (American) Thanksgiving to all our friends, wherever you may be, in all languages……….