How easy it has become to be miserable. The national debt has surpassed, gulp, $15 trillion. Most of it belongs to China, as we might be if things don’t improve. Remember the Golden Rule? Whoever has the gold makes the rules.

It’s easy to be miserable because we are peppered day and night with armageddon. It’s Thanksgiving week in a place people will cross deserts to get into and all we hear is how bad things are. Most of us have no concept of bad — I mean really bad — as in put a ceramic jug on your head and walk a mile with the freshest dirty water you can find bad.

We can go to a supermarket 24 hours a day and there will be bread on the shelves, and water in bottles — ones we throw away — for a pittance. Meats and cheeses so easy to obtain, yet so many of us complain.

Complain about their station in life. Complain that the people on that side of the street have more “stuff” than you. Complain about elected officials yet, for reasons no one has figured out, put the same bums right back into power. We are letting politicians run our lives and they have proved they couldn’t run a lemonade stand efficiently.

Crooked politicians are nothing new. Google Boss Tweed if you want a heaping gulp of corruption. Crooked pols will look out for themselves first, everyone else later. They are in it for power, money and advancement, and are able to do it because they can convince the ordinary man that they are the exception.

Don’t let them have control of your lives. Be independent, pay your own freight, get out from under their thumb. Happiness comes from relationships, families, pets and morning sunsets, not at the whims of 535 men and women in Washington.

It feels so much better to be thankful. Time here is short and all the advancements in science have yet to figure out the one thing every person on this Earth has in common — our days here are numbered.

I’d be willing to bet that most of Warren County will be surrounded by a feast on Thursday. Some feasts will be larger than others, some birds more plump. Even those down on their luck can find heart-filled volunteers trying to make everyone’s thanksgiving happy.

Be thankful for the things you have and the people to share time with. Be thankful for the pet, the fresh air and clean water. Most importantly, be thankful you are here for another day because nothing is guaranteed.