Gratitude Is Key This Thanksgiving.

My colleague Rebecca Primus penned an article in the AJC on gratitude. Read the whole thing.

This Thanksgiving, cultivating a sense of gratitude for those outside our immediate circle will go a long way toward planting seeds of respect and neighborliness that have the power to heal our country. Appreciating our local librarian, the cashier at the grocery store, one of the parents at our child’s school, the neighbor who sits behind us in church makes it much more difficult to define them by their political preferences or as the “other side.” It builds trust and fosters cooperation — qualities that we desperately need in today’s political moment.

In a world overwhelmed by loneliness, suspicion, and anger, this is how we can make our communities good places to live. This is how we can reconnect with one of the best sources of hope and joy — each other.

How fitting that Thanksgiving — a truly American holiday — is dedicated to a virtue that helps hold us together as a nation.

Gratitude strengthens our communities and makes them work. As President Lincoln understood so many years ago, it’s essential for shaping not only good people, but good citizens.

Happy Thanksgiving, y’all.