Teenagers Should Be Thankful This

¶ … Teenagers Should Be Thankful This Holiday Season Today, Americans at Thanksgiving are no longer facing the formidable challenges of enduring the winter of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Cooking a turkey properly and not missing the best football games on television are usually the main preoccupations of today's teens at Thanksgiving. But we can still give thanks for these simple blessings that make life worthwhile. Some of the following suggestions of "things for which we must be thankful" may seem like hackneyed cliches, but beneath the familiar phrases are many eternal truths.

What is the most important gift we have, that we take for granted until it has left us? The answer is simple: our health. Yes, we are young and are therefore immortal. We consider limitations upon our personal safety that are designed to protect us to be banal trivialities. But whether we are reminded by an elderly relative who has suddenly taken ill or the child of a friend with the flu, we must never forget that without health, the rest of life's pleasures seem relatively meaningless.

I take the time this holiday season, however, always to appreciate my health, since I know so many people who cannot take it for granted. 2. I know, I know, my fellow teenagers -- you can't stand your parents and can barely choke down the turkey until you run out the door to meet your friends. But before you spend your dinner texting beneath the tablecloth, consider that you aren't going to be living with our parents forever; your parents may not be with you forever. Life is short.

This moment in time is fleeting. This Thanksgiving I am thankful for the company of my parents. I will turn off my phone, sit, smile and listen for a change. If I'm not careful, I might remember something! 3. Pumpkin pie, oh how I love thee.

You're not that high in calories, you're high in fiber, and even have Vitamin A And yet you make such a tasty dessert! Just don't tell me how much decadent sugar and cream you have baked within your delightful crust, and I can feel virtuous eating you after dinner. 4. I am grateful for my education, even though I complain about dragging myself to school. I am so fortunate that I have this time in my life to focus on learning.

Every day I learn something new, whether I like it or not! 5. The animals in my life never judge me; animals always show me kindness and understanding and illustrate that without words it is still possible to speak deep and profound truths. 6. Never let it be forgotten that Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday.

We are a nation that has had the courage to change, we are a nation that has elected its first African-American president, and we are a nation that has confronted the realities of war and an economic downturn (loose sentence). Beyond our profoundly imperfect beginnings as a nation, beyond our sad history of slavery, beyond the atonement we must still make to Native Americans, we must at least acknowledge our capacity for greatness in a land founded upon the ideal of freedom (periodic sentence). While the rhetoric.