Thanks for everything!

I got this post from here It touched a part of me somewhere inside so I thought I cross post it here. The one thing I got from this post is that an individual should have his feet firmly on ground. Somewhere along the journey of life, we forget to prioritize and we forget to thank GOD for what we have. Unfortunately, many of us never realize this until we have lost something very very precious. So, I am posting this story here so that may be it could help someone understand the importance of holding on, the importance of being thankful and in the process, prevent hime from loosing someone/something really important and really special. Here it goes...

Giving Thanks

I had one of those life changing events a few years back. I've told some people the story and they've found it interesting, so I thought today would be a good day to share it.

I entered Navy boot camp in San Diego, California on October 23rd, 1990. We had a kind of rough time of it in my company, we had a company commander that was tougher and more of a disciplinarian than your run-of-the-mill Navy enlisted guy. Nothing terrible, but none of us could look back at that experience and say it was easy or pleasant.

Meal times were not the relaxed, familial gatherings that I had grown up with in the suburbs of Houston. From the time we sat at the table we had about 10 minutes to eat. We were running a lot (5 or so miles a day, in boots). I was starving and picked up the loathsome habit of shoveling my food into my mouth as fast as possible. I needed the energy.

Thanksgiving came around and we had a reduced work schedule. They had a church service and most everybody went. (It was the only place where they didn't yell at you.)

The priest (Father Ski, can't remember his Polish last name) had a moment in his sermon where he said, "Some of you may be feeling sorry for yourselves being away from home, but you should know, for some of your shipmates, this will be the best Thanksgiving they've ever had."

Then we went to our holiday meal. It was the typical Navy food, better than the other services, but when they're cooking for thousands of guys in one day they can't really make it taste like home. The one real luxury was that they gave us 20 minutes to eat it.

We had been used to eating a plate of food in 10 minutes, so we all ate our food and then were sitting there looking at each other. I didn't know what else to say, so I mentioned that what Father Ski said in his sermon had really stuck with me. I didn't mind the food, and I had wanted to join the Navy for a long time, but I didn't think that anyone could possibly say that this was the best Thanksgiving anyone could have. There was some general agreement at the table but then the guy sitting across from me piped up to disagree. He said:

Well, this is the best Thanksgiving I've ever had. My dad is a drunk, and he beat me every day for as long as I remember. Thanksgiving and Christmas are the days when he gets the drunkest and beats me the worst. So, this may not be the greatest Thanksgiving for you all, but no one's going to beat me today.


I sat there stunned. I knew that people lived like that, but I had never met anyone like that before. It was something I had seen on TV, but didn't really know that it happenend. Since I had been a little cavalier in the way I made my comment, I tried to think of something comforting or apologetic to say. But the recruit in charge slapped his hand on the table, signaling that it was our time to form up and march back the barracks.

I'd had a pretty good life before that point and I've had a good life since. There have been rough patches sometimes and things haven't always been perfect. But whenever I get worked up about something or things aren't going right, I remember that guy. And every Thanksgiving I know exactly what I'm thankful for. I have a good family who have helped to provide me with a good life. It was something I'd taken for granted before that Thanksgiving in boot camp, but never since.