HAPPY THANKSGIVING: Here’s to the grateful American heart

  What a year it’s been for this country: Two wars, rising unemployment, a recession, an historic presidential election.

  Have you noticed we do nothing in small ways in America? Everything is a Warner Bros. production in Panavision. This is not a quiet, measured culture. This is a land of big ideas, grand landscapes, and dramatic excesses.

  We argue constantly about issues great, like baseball, and small, like foreign policy. Some people say we’re an arrogant lot, but what our critics don’t understand is the fact most Americans are too busy working long hours, raising diverse families, worshiping the God of our choosing, and dreaming our big dreams to give a damn what other people think. That posture doesn’t always serve us well on the world stage, but that’s an undeniable part of our national character.

  Foreign policy and world economics experts have begun predicting America’s decline, and I suppose some people are outraged at the very thought. Not me. I kind of like the idea that the experts are predicting that in the coming years China will emerge as the world’s dominant power.

  Rooting for the underdog is something Americans do well. I like our chances in that role.

  I hope we’ll always be a grateful people because we’re certainly blessed to be citizens of this country.

  To weather hard times with a grateful heart, that’s my wish for you this Thanksgiving.