Happy Thanksgiving. Every year is a mix of good and bad if we’re willing to look at it the right way, though I’m sure some of you are here in your era. Right job. Right partner. Everything is firing on all cylinders. Gym body. Clean car. Good haircut. And if that is true, then some of you are here feeling like the wheels are coming off, the opposite of the person I just described.
And, if I’m thankful for anything above all else—besides the automatic standards such as great friends, family and work I’m passionate about—it’s the ability to be all right with whatever person arrives at the table today. There are weeks when I feel at the top of my game as a writer, analyst, podcaster, dad, husband and so on. There are weeks when my takes aren’t good enough for the high school newspaper I used to write for. I’m nicer to that person now, and I implore you to be nicer to that person whenever you hear yourself arriving at the holidays in a state of relentless judgment.
