"I will hope that all those platitudes about silver linings are true. I will direct my energies to the belief that something good will come of all this loss."

A long time ago, some people found a new place to live. They experienced a very rough time and when they had made it through their first successful harvest, they threw a huge feast. They invited everyone who had helped them in their time of need and treated them to the bounty of their good fortune. It was a legendary feast.

Not long after, the newcomers fought with the ones who had helped them in their time of need. They fought for a long time and the newcomers ended up making the surviving helpers move to small little areas of land called reservations.

In spite this outcome of events, the newcomer's country celebrates that long ago feast to this day. If one is willing to suspend one's disbelief, one can still enjoy this feast in the manner of its intention.

Today, we celebrate Thanksgiving. For one day a year, people are supposed to gather with the ones they love, enjoy a fine meal and be thankful. This is a particularly bittersweet Thanksgiving. It's difficult to feel grateful for such basics as the lives of our loved ones and days where no buildings fall down. So many people do not have loved ones today and no matter how good the potatoes, that fact haunts our minds.

Of course we are grateful when we escape the horrible fates of others we know. We also feel guilty. We know that we have what we have because we are lucky. This Thanksgiving we are made painfully aware we are no safer than anyone else is in the world, no matter our deeds and intentions. Fate can turn on a dime and it's hard to say thanks knowing that.

I am sickened because I am torn. I took my daughter to the airport today. She is visiting her father 400 miles away for the holiday. She's done it for years and every time she gets on that plane, my heart drops. This year was especially excruciating because I could not pass through the metal detectors with her. I could not wait at the gate for her plane to arrive. I could not watch her get on the plane. I had to stay behind as she offered her backpack to a security agent while Green Berets patrolled the terminal. I had to settle for watching her disappear in a mass of quiet travelers.

I know it's no big deal. I should be glad for all this new awareness.

I will pretend to be strong and have faith in the efforts of our government to protect us all. I will defiantly face the fear that has so effectively permeated our country. On the outside, you won't catch me crying. Inside I am mourning for a lost joy I wonder will ever be found again. I will slap myself around a few times when I am made to realize I have it better than so many this year. I will push back that sinking feeling I am not grateful because my life is good, but because my life could be worse. I will raise the glass and pray for the unfortunate and do my best to help others.

I will hope that all those platitudes about silver linings are true. I will direct my energies to the belief that something good will come of all this loss. I will tell myself that we are smarter now. I will concentrate on the fact that a lot of girls will soon go to school in a country where it was once illegal.

I will smile when I hear stories of music blaring and laughter ringing in a place that once forbade such normal human activity. I will console my aching heart with the assurance that there will be people in this world who will know the freedom I have taken for granted all my life. I will beg the powers that be for them to bring a day where as a race, we find peace.

Bring your friends and family together. Look at others through your new eyes. Take the time to try and understand the devastation of soul that brings about acts of hatred. Do your best to override unbearable horror with unconditional forgiveness. Move on not just because it's the best way. Move on because you can.

Humanity may look grim but it is still alive. As long as there is life, there is hope. Thank whatever God you have there is still time to make a better world.