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Be thankful today, especially for the vaccine creators

Like everything else in 2020, Thanksgiving is markedly different in this year of the cruel coronavirus.

To start with, there are likely fewer gatherings. And at those gatherings, there are likely fewer people, either because someone has the virus, or because of concerns that someone might get the virus, or out of obedience to some debatable state orders.

So maybe for some couple, young or old, it’s just the two of them. For some growing family, there is no grandma and grandpa. And forget about that huge gathering where the cars spill out beyond the driveway and down the street.

Suffice it to say, there may be lots of leftovers.

But the beauty of saying thanks is that there are no requirements regarding numbers of people gathered around the table.

Thank you comes from the heart, one of the few things the virus cannot control.

The Pilgrims and Native Americans had lots of adversity to deal with and yet were able to gather and produce the origins of this special holiday.

So, be thankful. Take a moment from the doom and gloom to understand circumstances can always be worse. And most people around the world would trade places with most Americans, despite our warts.

And this year, there is a reason to be more thankful than ever.

It’s called a vaccine from the virus. There is every indication that several viable ones are on the cusp of approval and distribution. It is possible that by the spring everyone in this country who wants to be vaccinated will be vaccinated.

Give thanks to the thousands of health scientists and laboratory personnel who have done the tireless work to produce a vaccine in nine months. They have done historic work.

Give thanks to the health caregivers who have never wavered from their mission during this most difficult of years. As daunting as those numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths are from the virus, they would be much higher without these people.

Give thanks for the family you have been apart from this year. We all should appreciate what family is more than ever today.

And if you are healthy today — that’s still most of us, by the way — appreciate how fragile life is and how fortunate you are.

Time and a vaccine appear to be the only opponents this virus can’t defeat.

In the meantime, being thankful is the best weapon to keep the virus from defeating you.

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