I've posted this man's columns before and explained why we used to say "Thank God for Mississippi". Here is his take on Thanksgiving from an Alabama perspective. All highlights and bracketed comments are mine. I know that parts of this are "iffy", but the general theme is good and if it gives you a moment's pause to be grateful for simple things, it's all good.
Thank God for Mississippi, flush toilets and this amazing little corner of the world (John Archibald)
Life is hard. There's traffic and taxes and long waits in ludicrously long car tag lines. There's crime and poverty, pestilence and ... Democrats.
And Republicans.
Life is hard.
It's easy to forget the things we always forget. That we live in a world of unparalleled comfort and creativity, that in spite of it all we have it better than just about anybody ever did anywhere. We turn a switch and the room lights up as if enchanted (thanks Alabama Power). We turn a knob and clean, cool water rushes forth (thanks water works). We turn it the other way and it pours out hot.
We can even push a handle and ...
Flush.
Life is hard. But there are reasons to be thankful. I asked around, and found those reasons ... limitless.
We are thankful, as it turns out, for:
All the gadgets that make life easy. For central heat and air, and the people who know how to fix it. For ovens big enough for pre-plucked turkeys. For heavy duty dishwashers, blenders to blend, processors to process, and Google to look up the recipe grandma never wrote down.
For toilet paper. 
For the expectation of safety, and stability. For the Bill of Rights. For due process and the rule of law. For the way you can love or hate your president, but marvel at the orderly transfer of power with each change in leadership.
For Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who makes our leaders look dignified.
(That is arguable)
For Mississippi.
For people who smile for no reason at all. For people who smile when they seem to have no reason to smile. For friendly faces at checkout lines. For children who say please and thank you.
For civility, and respectfulness, and compassion. For manners.
For this amazing little corner of earth, with its epic beauty and diversity. For the garnets and golds of fall leaves in the North Alabama mountains, and for the smell of salt air sweeping in from the Gulf. For a hint of hearth smoke in the crisp autumn air. For fish and deer and birds that sing in the morning.
For walks before dark. For blue skies.
For Alexander Fleming and Jonas Salk. For Antibiotics and Ibuprofen and all those people at places like UAB scoping out cures for diseases we know and we don't. For nurses and doctors. For people who change bed sheets and clean air filters in patient rooms.
For those who pick up garbage on the street. For those who don't – who won't – throw their trash on the ground.
For books and libraries. For librarians. For Shakespeare and Twain, Harper Lee and Alan Lightman. For stories and storytellers and listening close.
Yes, for football too. For Alabama and Auburn. (WAR EAGLE!) For ESPN, instant replay and that yellow line that signals a first down. For glasses. For warm coats and clean, fuzzy socks .
For chocolate and bacon and the remote control.
For living in this nation, where a vast collection of immigrants built something, against all the elements and odds, on a fundamental philosophy of equality of opportunity.For Einstein and time. For Lincoln and MLK. For good schools and good teachers and all those who are willing to serve.
For soup.
And for spoons.
For the Drive By Truckers and The Blind Boys of Alabama. For Handel's Messiah and Amazing Grace.
For Thanksgiving.
For people so stubborn they believe our past is worth preserving. And most of all for people so stubborn they continue to believe our future – our nation, our state and our communities – can be brighter than our past.
Life is hard. Still, it ought to be a busy Thanksgiving.
http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/201 ... _big-photo
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