Are you the type to see the glass half empty or half full? Are you the type who always needs something more or the type who has everything? Who has everything? Is there anyone who can truly say they have it all?

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Let's define the word "everything." It comes from the Latin "totus" and means "whole" or "entire." And if by "entire" we understand something whole, without fracture, continuous without break, we also understand that this doesn't happen on a human level.

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And therein lies the crux of the matter. The feeling that something is missing, that we are not complete, that we don't have everything, is something as human and visceral as the history of humankind.

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Some people take their shortcomings very personally and are always focused on what they lack. Others turn a blind eye and prefer to see nothing.

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But there's a middle ground, and I believe the key is being grateful. That's why I celebrate Thanksgiving with such joy.

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Before moving to the USA, I knew of the celebration as just another cultural aspect of the country I was going to live in. But once here, and after celebrating November a few times with friends you make along the way, I realized how important it was to set aside a day of the year simply to give thanks.

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This is a lesson that has remained with the American people due to a particular circumstance of the first settlers, but today it has transcended to a family gathering where we stop to think about all that we have and give thanks for it.

Even in Argentina, my native country, some families take advantage of this date to get together and give thanks.

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We are grateful for the food, for family, for life itself. It doesn't matter if it's a lot or a little. Nor does it matter what's missing. What matters, however, is what each person brings to the table, what each person can give.

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And it's true. A grateful person is also generous. Not because you have to give to receive, but because simply giving is an act of gratitude, a way of sharing what you have with others.

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And I'm not talking about money, but about those other things that are so much more important: friendship, time, a sincere hug, a smile.

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I hope that at the November table all my readers will rise with their glasses full of whatever they most want to give.

 

Mercedes Soledad Moresco, Writer