O happy day.

Thanksgiving is a happy day, one of the greatest holidays ever put on ours or any other calendar. You may know how important gratitude is to me; it is perhaps the highest emotion a human being is capable of enjoying and expressing.

You may have trouble feeling gratitude this year, for whatever reason. Maybe you're out of work. Maybe you have to work. Maybe you're spending the day with dread, knowing that tonight you report to the store where a mob of idiots is going to appear like magic for the sometimes-too-aptly-named "doorbusters." It's okay.

You may be alone, or feel ill, or be grieving, or have to deal with family members that drive you up the wall faster than a German shepherd drives a squirrel up a pine. I know the feeling.

I've had Thanksgivings where a bunch of people were crammed in a little house and everyone got sick. I've had years when a death in the family made me want to spend the day alone, guzzling beer and watching thirty straight hours of quality television (I was not allowed to). We got through.

You have worries, problems, concerns, fears. So do I. You've seen me vent that spleen on this page many times, you poor thing. But not today. Today I am putting all that crap on hold for 24 hours. All that garbage will be waiting for me on Leftovers Friday. Today is the day to think of things to be grateful for. If I have to work hard to do it, that's okay too; as long as I do it.

And hey, I can always start by being grateful I am an American. Other people live well in other places, maybe even better, but I'm telling you, if you ain't an American, you're missing out on something good.

Happy Thanksgiving.