While our neighbours in the United States won’t be going through the routine filled with a cornucopia of plenty until next month, Canadian Thanksgiving is today. First off, I would like to wish a happy Thanksgiving to the entire Beyond the Rhetoric community. I hope you are enjoying the fall colours and the bounties of the harvest… or something to that effect. Even if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you have a nice day. 🙂

Canadian Thanksgiving takes place on the second Monday of every October and it gives us an opportunity to reflect and to give thanks. Seeing how so many of us come from such different backgrounds and so different walks of life, I was curious to see what people are thankful for this Thanksgiving. What better way to do that than, well, to ask.

The Twitterati Are Thankful For…

I put out a request on Twitter to see what people are thankful for this Thanksgiving (just another reason to follow me on Twitter), and here are some of the responses I received.

Michael Yurechko writes:
“Shaw Cable, Entourage, Apple, Internet pornography, xbox 360 and.. family/friends (had to have a bullshit answer in there)” (excuse the language)

SJHopson writes:
“Thnkful fr God’s abundance, my raw food journey which has yieled abundant results and my friends, family and health + biz”

Hummingbird604 (Raul) writes:
“My family, my friends, my health, and having finished my PhD. Amongst other things :)”

iPhoneInCanada (Gary Ng) writes:
“I’m thankful for the iPhone”

Stephen Fung writes:
“im thankful for the interwebs. So should you all.”

That’s quite the varied response. It just goes to show you that everyone has different priorities in their lives and, as such, it really is a matter of perspective. Two people can approach the exact same thing in very different ways.

Michael Kwan Is Thankful For…

While I may not have a superhuman ability, I am certainly thankful for many things in my life. It would impossible for me to state them all in the confines of this space, so I’m going to keep this as brief as possible.

First, I am thankful that I live in a country where even a young bloke like me can start his own business. I am thankful that I have the opportunity to work from home and not be bound to any single location. Following the same line of thought, I am very thankful that Canada has universal health care and relatively accessible higher education.

Second, I am thankful for capitalism, despite some of the evils that it may produce. It is through capitalism and healthy competition that we have been able to enjoy some of the greatest innovations and inventions that this world has ever seen. It is partly from capitalism that we were introduced to the Apple iPhone, the Nissan GT-R supercar, the Nintendo Wii, and even The Colbert Report.

Third, as cliche as it may sound, I am incredibly thankful for all the support and companionship that I get from my family and friends. Even though I work from home, I appreciate the ability to meet people in person, share happy experiences, and learn a few things along the way. Like how to not crash a scooter. I’m still learning.

Fourth, I am thankful for Al Gore. He did invent the Internet, after all.

Have A Happy Turkey Day!

Go ahead and indulge in some turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, corn on the cob, and maybe some sweet potato pie. I know that we’re going through some tough economic times, but when you consider those less fortunate than you, you’ll quickly realize just how much you have to be thankful for.