Finding Reasons to be Grateful in a Year Like No Other

In a year in which millions of Americans won’t be celebrating Thanksgiving with their loved ones, it’s tempting to skip out on the simple act of being thankful. A muted holiday season feels like the final blow in a year defined by a pandemic, racial strife, wildfires, and a president who won’t admit he lost an election. But take five minutes in honor of Thanksgiving to refill your glass with some optimism and joy. There is plenty to decry at home and in the world, but there’s much to rejoice in.

At the turn of the 21st century, 27.7 percent of the globe survived on $1.90 a day or less. Now that number is 9.4 percent—and would have been 7.9 percent were it not for the pandemic.  Global life expectancy is also up from 67.1 to 73.2; adult literacy from a hair under 80 percent to 86.7 percent. And child mortality has dropped dramatically over the last 20 years from 9.82 million annual deaths worldwide to 5.2 million. In the year 2000, our own per capita income in America was $42,970; it’s now $56,663. In 2000, 54.2 percent of eligible Americans voted; in 2020 that number is projected to be 66.8 percent.  Sure, it took Donald J. Trump to bring out millions of new voters (both for and against his presidency), but that is the beauty of democracy. The people voted, and their choice will be heard. 

Yes, there was democratic backsliding in the world, and Russia, China, and Iran are working to ensure there will be more. But in the last year, crowds of demonstrators have overthrown their governments in Lebanon, Iraq, Sudan, and further afield. In Iran, they have come out again and again to demand accountability in the face of a terrifying regime. The power of the people is a cause for rejoicing. It may not always have the desired effect, but the courage to stand and demand better governance is to be celebrated.

Where there was bad news—and there was plenty—the United States often stood with the oppressed; in Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Iran, Venezuela, and Ukraine especially. Notwithstanding the doubts of many and the disapprobation of Team Trump, the reality is that the United States stood tall for values that matter to people. We worry, rightly, about a growing indifference to the problems of the world. Many Americans feel left behind by the integration of global markets and trade agreements that render their work less meaningful, or abolish their jobs entirely. 

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Comments (17)
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  • Nice! Thanks for the perspective! It’s so easy to get caught up with the press’s negativity that we lose sight of all the fantastic things and the beauty that exist around us every day

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  • I am so thankful for our health this year, that none of us has gotten Covid. I hope we can continue to avoid it up to the vaccine availability. We had my son and his girlfriend (and their dog) and it was so lovely to have them home. We are sending them back with a ton of leftovers (they are starving students). I like to take this time after Thanksgiving to take stock in what goals and improvements I want to manifest in my life and start creating a plan for the new year.

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  • As bad as this year has been, if you do the research on the 1918 pandemic, it was much worse. The flu then was more lethal than the Covid. People were sick in 2 days and dead in four. Lungs so full of blood it came out their nostrils and ears. 20 million dead in India. Fifty million dead world wide (maybe more). John Barry's 2004 book is a masterful one.

    That's not to say I'm not sorry for the many families who have a missing person at their table this year because of the virus, or at least missing in their thoughts. I'm thankful that 2020, with all its terrible twists and turns, with a cockamamie presidential election, could have been worse.

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  • Happy Thanksgivings Ms/Mrs Pletka! Thanks for the article!

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  • Wonderful article! Perfect way to prepare for the smallest Thanksgiving meal of my life: A feast for two -- just my husband and me as he continues to recover from COVID. It was rough - and frightening -- but we are getting through it. God is good!

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    1. God IS good!

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    2. Amen.

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  • Hoping you will be grateful for Biden averting a near disaster for the country and the world Ms. Pletka. Perhaps you will examine AEI's role in the ascension of Trump.

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    1. Let it go already. It's time to move on.

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    2. Unlikely. Contrition is not a value for AEI and some of the other conservative institutions

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      1. Yes. We have the same contrition level as the DNC and BLM and the NYT.

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      2. At some point, I'd like to hear how you think an anti-populist, pro-trade, pro-immigration think tank full of academic eggheads gave us a populist, anti-trade, anti-immigration, anti-intellectual president

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        1. It's a good argument to have, no? Why did supporting economic liberalism seem to give rise to its opposite?

          I'm guessing Arthur Brooks would be happy to address this. Showing conservatives indeed can have contrition.

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          1. He began his tenure as head of AEI heels over head for the Tea Party. While hadn't conceded the Tea Party was the Trump Party by the end, he at least argued against it and the Republican Party's angry tone. Also, that AEI should stay out of politics.

            I think most of the Tea Partiers who stayed true to AEI stuff would acknowledge the legislators and 90% of the members were always or became full on Trumpers.

            https://www.aei.org/articles/an-interview-with-arthur-brooks/

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