Giving Thanks in a Tough Year

Each year, the arrival of Thanksgiving and the holiday season offers a moment to break from our daily routines and to give thanks for our gifts and blessings. We are grateful for friends and families, for the freedoms bestowed upon us as Americans, and for the natural treasures that surround us in Arkansas. Our strong communities, close-knit towns, and caring neighborhoods fill us with goodwill.

And this year especially, more and more of our people have needed that goodwill. A report released last week cited Arkansas as the state with the third-highest level of hunger in the country. Almost 16 percent of Arkansas families lack consistent access to adequate food, as compared to 12.2 percent nationally. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been measuring these hunger statistics since 1995, and officials there say the current national figures are the highest they've seen since they began keeping records.

When this news comes at Thanksgiving, it creates a sharp contrast to the good fortune many of us enjoy. This is a time when those of us who do have enough to eat consider how we might share with others. We always have the opportunity of donating food to a food bank or volunteering our time to feed others at a homeless shelter. These activities set an enduring example for our children and spread the generosity inherent in our people.

Although this year has not been an easy one for many Arkansans, we do have our own blessings to count. Our per capita income is rising, we have created thousands of new jobs, our people's health is improving, and our students are scoring better on Advanced Placement exams. We celebrate these achievements, even as we recognize that too many of our fellow citizens do not have the basic necessities they need this Thanksgiving.

The eighteenth-century writer Edward Sandford Martin once said, "Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow." While it sounds simple, it is not always an easy task to step back and assess the gifts we have, especially in a season when we are bombarded with so many images of excess.

To our soldiers and your families, we give thanks for your service, sacrifice, and courage. We are thinking of those of you commemorating the holiday overseas as you work to safeguard the freedoms we enjoy at home. To those of you missing the presence of a loved one currently deployed, know that we stand by as friends, neighbors, and Arkansans who support you.

Let the entire holiday season be a reminder of all that we have to be thankful for and all that we can do to help others. And in a year that has seen its share of struggle and unease, let us remember that the strongest blessings in our lives are often the simplest ones. I wish you and your families a safe and happy Thanksgiving.