For consideration, let’s have a moment of gratitude for the science behind the medication that treats and controls diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, afflictions which are disproportionately found in Latino communities; the science that brought us antibiotics which are wide ranging, relatively accessible and life preserving in their battles against infection; the miracle cures that help us through the common cold, the annual flu and worldwide pandemics;
Let us give thanks for the doctors and nurses and technicians and assistants and donors that busy themselves in hospitals, especially the ones like Rady Children’s Hospital where children and their families are surrounded by compassion, love and treatment during their greatest hour of need.
And to the caregivers who mind and watch over the elders who came before us.
Let’s have a moment of thanks for the science that illuminated our lives with a light bulb, and that studied the stars and showed us our place in the cosmos.
Let’s be thankful for Lionel Messi. And Venus Williams. And Kobe Bryant. Or any of the other superstar, iconic athletes who prompt little kids to dream and imagine that one day they too might be great and, in the meantime, compel their parents to take them to week after week of practices and games all in the ultimate service of, not an extraordinary career, but a bank of memories that can be shared and laughed over during family gatherings.
And for the physicists and mathematicians and engineers who design the cool things in life like rockets and robots and lasers, inspiring future generations to create the paths the rest of us travel.
Let’s give thanks for those who are still with us, in our immediate bubble that we can reach out and touch someone when comfort is needed, and those on the outside who give us the hope and inspiration to make it to the day when we can all, again, share a meaningful worry-free embrace.
And to the memory of those who are no longer with us, that the recollection of their time in our lives brings us comfort and solace when we need it.
Let’s be thankful for the brief time we have together.
