Books by Eric Douglas

Thriller fiction | Non-fiction: Adventure with a Purpose

  • Home
  • Mike Scott Thrillers
    • Held Hostage: Search for the Juncal
    • Water Crisis: Day Zero
    • Turks and Chaos: Hostile Waters
    • The 3rd Key: Sharks in the Water
    • Oil and Water: Crash in Curacao
    • Return to Cayman: Paradise Held Hostage
    • Heart of the Maya: Murder for the Gods
    • Wreck of the Huron: Cuban Secrets
    • Guardians’ Keep: Mystery below the Adriatic
    • Flooding Hollywood: Fanatics at the Dam
    • Cayman Cowboys: Reefs Under Pressure
  • Withrow Key
    • Lyin’ Fish
    • Tales from Withrow Key
  • Thriller Audiobooks
    • Cayman Cowboys: Reefs Under Pressure
    • Oil and Water: Crash in Curacao
    • Return to Cayman: Paradise Held Hostage
    • Turks and Chaos: Hostile Waters
    • Lyin’ Fish
  • Agent AJ West
  • About the Author
    • Scuba diving thrillers!
    • Six Questions with Eric Douglas
    • Publicity and Interviews
  • Nonfiction
    • For Cheap Lobster
    • Heart Survivor: Recovery After Heart Surgery
    • Oral History
      • Batter Up!
      • Memories of the Valley
      • WV Voices of War / Common Valor
      • Capturing Memories: How to Record Oral Histories
    • Dive-abled: The Leo Morales Story
    • Keep on, Keepin’ On: A Breast Cancer Story
    • WV Voices of War / Common Valor
    • Russia: The New Age
    • Scuba Diving Safety
  • Free Short Fiction
  • Collections
    • Mike Scott Box Set 3 (Books 7-10)
    • Mike Scott Box-Set 4-6
    • Mike Scott Box-Set 1-3
    • Tales from Withrow Key
    • Sea Turtle Rescue and Other Stories
    • River Town
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Uncategorized / Being Thankful

Being Thankful

November 20, 2012 By Eric Douglas

When I was a kid, Thanksgiving was “Turkey Day”. For me, the whole purpose of the day was eating turkey and mashed potatoes. I knew (or thought I knew) the story of the first pilgrims and the feast they had at the end of the harvest, inviting their “Indian” friends over for a big party. At school every year we made construction paper hats and headdresses to play our parts for the day.

Today it seems Thanksgiving is more significant to some people for what comes after—Black Friday. Now Black Friday is encroaching on Thanksgiving itself. I hear people complain about the expanded offerings for “sales” saying how awful they think it is that those who work in the stores won’t be able to spend time with their families. There are even petitions about it. As long as people are standing outside waiting for stores to open so they can get that moment’s big deal, the stores will keep edging their sales earlier and earlier. The most effective protest is to stay home.
On the other hand, I see more and more people stopping to be thankful, often for the little things that we take for granted. A Facebook trend this month is people posting about things they’re thankful for over 30 days; naming something each day. It’s pretty tough to do. In the press of life and busy schedules, it can be difficult to remember to take a moment to be thankful for something. Of course, there are some days thinking of something to be thankful for can be pretty difficult. Typically, it starts out with people being thankful for a warm, dry place to live, food to eat and other material things. As they move through the month, if they are dedicated to the effort, they take time to be thankful for things that aren’t things at all. They are thankful for people; friends and family, and good things they see in the world around them.
As an adult, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. While I enjoy Christmas, and believe in the Christ story behind the holiday, I get frustrated with the feeling that you “have to” do things—gifts, parties, activities that aren’t related to the meaning of Christmas at all. To me that isn’t a holiday. And that’s what makes Thanksgiving so great. So far, no one has been able to find a way to commercialize Thanksgiving, other than the aforementioned expansion of Christmas shopping.
Thanksgiving is still about family and friends. It is about the intangible things in our lives. It is about slowing down to remember the people who aren’t with us anymore and being grateful for what we have: a warm home, a bed, food to eat. For many people, it’s also a great time to remember the people around us who don’t have those things and then attempting to help; people helping people.
I am thankful to be with my family this Thanksgiving. I am thankful for the comforts I have and I am thankful for the opportunities I have as a writer and a storyteller to use my God-given talents to entertain.
Take a few moments to be thankful for what you have.
And then pass me the turkey… 
Happy Thanksgiving!

.

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Share on Tumblr

Related

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Get a free, exclusive short story!

When you sign up, you can download a free Mike Scott short story collection. Theses three stories are only available to members of the mailing list. Don’t worry, we won’t spam you or sell your email address. We hate that, too.

Thank you!

You have successfully joined our subscriber list.

.

How I got into diving!

https://youtu.be/gKhw-4tORAM

Real Thugs: A Cult of Murder — Small groups of travelers have disappeared all over the mid-Atlantic without a trace. When bodies turn up with what appear to be ritual markings, FBI Agent AJ West is on the hunt for what might be a serial killer. Or something even more sinister. It’s a race against […]

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Share on Tumblr

View Book

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

  • Going to the circus! February 20, 2023
  • Cayman Cowboys is now an Audiobook! November 24, 2020
  • Halloween 2020 – as if reality wasn’t scary enough October 30, 2020
  • Real Trick and What Noise? October 30, 2020
  • Local Diving — Summersville Lake September 21, 2020

Blog posts, by category

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 ·