Thursday, November 22, 2007

Reasons To Be Thankful

The holidays can be a rough time for many people. To some, the span from November to January is a time when people around them get all excited for something that that person doesn't celebrate. Sometimes, the season is a time to remember things lost. As paradoxical it may sound, often times these months do depress people. Whether or not you are one of those people, here is a list of reasons that you should be thankful today.

1. A more primitive species similar to man, the Neanderthal, had a brain that was actually bigger than that of a human being, be thankful that (though we only use ten percent of our brain) we have advanced as far as we have with minds smaller than that of such a similar species (thank you Benji for your correction) .
2. The arm bones connected to the shoulder bone...depending on age, the human body has 206 to 350 bones in it. That means that if you lost part of your finger in a tragic ice skating accident like me, you have about 205 (thank you Benji for the correction) other bones to be thankful for.
3. One in every three people in the world live on the equivalent of two American dollars each day. That's less than the cost of a gallon of gas.(Koffi Anan, UN Secretary General) (thank you Benji for your correction)
4. School can sometimes be a bug but be thankful when you sign your name on your next syllabus because only one third of the world can sign their name. (this is a literacy fact, it doesn't reflect the paralyzed or people without hands)(UNESCO)
5. It most likely has taken you one minute or so to read thus far in the blog. In that time alone, you probably took 20 to 24 breaths and omitted almost 1 full gram of CO2. CO2 is toxic to the human body, be thankful that in that time you inhaled Oxygen instead of the CO2 someone else exhaled because enough can kill you. (According to Howto.com)
6. Aquafina or Fiji? Tough decision? Be thankful that you have the liberty to make that decision because 1.4 million people die each year due to a lack of access to clean drinking water. (UNICEF)
7. Are you scared of when your week comes up to post your blogs? Sure, this assignment is kind of inconvenient, be thankful that you live in a society that can assign a project like this because only one of every one hundred has their own computer. Just think some of us have two or three, I myself can dig through closets and find at least three computers that work but aren't even in use.

Depressing? Some of these facts may be but I wanted to remind those in the struggle of life that there is always something to be thankful for. Sometimes the best way to find the HUGEST ways to be thankful is when you look for the smallest things.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends and have yourself a happy holiday season.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy Thanksgiving to you too. It's always nice to be reminded of all that we have to be thankful for.

benji said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Matt Abad the Dragon Slayer said...

Thank you Benji for your constructive and yet somewhat hostile criticism.I appreciate your attention to detail and eagerness to keep up the validity of this blog. I made corrections to my original post.

I am thankful for your kindness dear sir.

la dee da

mamu

benji said...

sorry matt, just kidding.

Derek Lee said...

I think that it is easy for Americans to take for granted what we have in this country. We complain about the president that we currently have, but we don't consider the fact that we actually have a president that came from some sort of democracy. We complain about education, but many countries don't have the money or resources to provide public education to its youth. So though our lives may seem "tough" will college apps and all, I hope you remember that we, at least, are given the opportunity to go to a college and get a higher education that many people do not have the benefit of getting.

Anonymous said...

It's sad that we take so much for granted. We have so many oppurtunities yet we hardly take advantage of them. Thank you for posting this article.

Matt Abad the Dragon Slayer said...

Benji, I was not upset at all with your comment, i would really appreciate if you put it back up, I was just joking with you. I honestly didn't mind it.

la dee da

mamu

Matt Abad the Dragon Slayer said...

Benji, I was not upset at all with your comment, i would really appreciate if you put it back up, I was just joking with you. I honestly didn't mind it.

la dee da

mamu

Matt Abad the Dragon Slayer said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ryan Landis said...

That is very uplifting Matt. Have a great holiday. It makes you want to give back huh?