Givingthanks Day

   I am generally a thankful kind of guy. I am thankful for many of the bigger things such as a great family, good job and good health.
   I am, however, pretty constantly thankful for some of the everyday things most of us take for granted.
   Walking and running for an example. I know several people who, through either accident or illness, have lost the use of their legs. Sometimes, even when I am just walking across a parking lot, I know what those people would give up just to be able to do that again. They could have just lost their homes and jobs five minutes previous but if, all of the sudden, they were able to walk again the pain of those losses would miraculously disappear. So it takes very little for me to be thankful for the ability to walk.

   I know people who cannot hear and people who cannot speak and I am thankful that I am able to do both of those things. I know people who have lost children, people who have cancer, and people who are brain-injured and I am thankful that none of these things have befallen me.
   Here is the problem I am having, though. I am deeply and profoundly thankful but I am not sure to who or what. I don't believe in God or gods so it doesn't make sense that I should be thankful to them. I tend to think that misfortune and good luck are in some ways just pure chance. So why be thankful to a simple spin of the wheel?
   Thanks needs to be directed at someone or something. I think this is somewhat part of its definition. If there is nothing, no-one or nowhere to direct your thanks then perhaps you cannot, by definition, be thankful. Perhaps the most you can be is happy, rather than thankful, with whatever your good fortune is.
   So I guess I am happy. Somehow or other, though, notwithstanding the atheist in me, I still feel thankful...