Giving Thanks

I’ve been traveling out of office for a couple of weeks, and I haven’t posted anything for too long – my apologies to my loyal readers. Today, I want to send this brief message: I’ve been given a lot of good things in this life. I’ve had my share of suffering and personal losses, also, but I am grateful for what I have. Most importantly, for the gift of my beautiful wife (who had a birthday yesterday,) and for those I am close to. We are all at different places in life, and we all have different blessings and burdens. But I think we can all agree that, unfortunately, there are always those who have less then we do, and that we can all be grateful to varying degrees for what we have in life. Debbi and I are blessed to be here in Hawaii over Thanksgiving, and while this is a beautiful place, it is also marked by a very high cost of living, and by the sadness of too much poverty for too many who live and work here. We hope we can do our part to leave this place having extended some kindness and benevolence to those who live here, especially on Thanksgiving Day during our visit.

I passed a Buddhist statuary today, and a particular contemplation struck me as important: “When Wishes Are Few The Heart Is Happy.” That is a tall order in a world dominated by a consumerist-mentality and by nonstop messages of “Buy, Get, Acquire.” But these age-old words are important to remember, or it becomes hard to be grateful for anything.

And so I give thanks for the blessings I have, including my loyal readers, my friends and my clients.

My best wishes to all of you.

Thankfully,

Bill Kickham