What's the point of being grateful if there's no one to whom we should be grateful? Not God, of course. All the slaves and the men who owned them who built this country are long dead. You can't be grateful to a box of bones in a cemetery.

Americans aren't a grateful or thankful bunch, you say. Yet we are some of the most generous people in the world when it comes to charity and giving. How else could American show their thanks? Let us know so we can all try harder to make you happy.

What a bunch of crap, which is to be expected these days in Salon.

PS Sorry to hear you had cancer. Go get in line with millions of other Americans who had it too.

I too was diagnosed with an incurable disease at a young age. Then I had a few sunlit years. I can't describe it. Suddenly everyday stress became nothing, no weight on my shoulders, I chose experience every time. Life was golden. I still have the incurable disease, but the threat of paralysis has diminished. I blame this on my lazy retreat into stress and the need to be productive. But in truth, our culture doesn't do la dolce vita well. We are wonderful in many ways. But we've bought in to the "be productive" mantra so totally that we feel guilty taking an extra five minutes at lunch. Can you imagine a siesta?

A year ago 60 minutes ran a story about the dreaded French. It seems that they have a really great time over there. But, the announcer said ominously, they are very unproductive compared to Americans. It would be better to live life and love your family and blow off work all the time. We do not have the luxury of plenty of money or time off to heal from sickness. This society makes a faustian bargain with its citizens: work thee ass off and when you retire go have fun. The joke's on us of course--an illness, even with insurance, taps out your 401k. You work at Wal-Mart, can't afford to travel. The fun you deferred until old age never comes.

I've often wondered the purpose of Thanksgiving. Knowing, as I do, that the story behind the Pilgrims and Indians and Turkey is mostly folk-lore, I've questioned the purpose of the holiday and had a hard time convincing myself it was anything other than a really convenient excuse for time off from work, purposeless travel, and gluttony.

But, tonight, I'm thankful for this article. It has allowed me to consider other things for which I might be thankful: that I have a job, that I have two wonderful sons, that neither of them is in Iraq, that I have a house and enough money to pay utilities to keep it warm this winter. That I've never had cancer, but that I've had the opportunity to know many who have, and that they are still living to share their experience with me.

To the previous poster: its "pompous", you ass. Spell-check is a wonderful thing. You should learn how to use it. Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanks for that. I really liked it and some of the lines really jumped out at me. I know what you mean when the world seems big and you in it very small. I had a similar experience recently when we thought we might lose our child. That threat turned out to never have been real, but the gratitude I experienced to be given my 'old' life back, with all its assumptions, was incredible, and all smaller problems faded away. So much so that for about eight crazed months I refused to worry about anything, including money, with the result that now we're kinda broke and I'm kinda worrying about it! But that's okay - even as I face this problem I am grateful for the kind of problem that it is - one that we'll get over, one way or another.

Although I know some people in America and in my country too are so poor they can't not think about it, I think it's important to acknowledge that for most of us, just having the basics of clean water and enough food and a warm house is riches indeed. A job that's safe. Loved ones who are safe also - these are all huge things to be grateful for.

Finally, and I put this in knowing I'm just exploiting the opportunity here - BUT, gratitude for all that's beautiful in the world has lead me to abhore needless suffering, of which meat eating is a glaring example. The suffering of the animals we eat is so immense, and yet to halt it requires so little. Why not express gratitude for life by honouring life this thanksgiving?

And to "Sick", may you too receive the gift of eternal illumination.

Thank you.

And thank you Salon for publishing something with depth.

Bitter much? Are you hovering over your keyboard waiting for the next demo-crazy story to pounce on? Yawn. Did you even read the whole article or were your GOP shields up fending off any ideas that might sound a bit compassionate or truly thoughtful?

and honestly written. Gary Kamiya describes a world I recognise. I know it's cliched, but in much of the wealthy West we've lost sight of the pleasures to be had in simple things in our relentless forward rush to... where?

I don't know what we can do about it, or even if we should do anything. But we should at least accept that other societies can make different, but just as valid, choices to our own. Good examples, France and Italy, are quoted by Kamiya. These are thoroughly modern and developed Western societies but with some different emphases, such as the importance of good food enjoyed at leisure.

So the least we should do is repudiate the scorn and contempt the Cheneys and Rumsfelds of this world express towards societies, such as the perfidious 'Old Europe', that like to do things a bit differently.