Originally published on the CGS blog on November 26, 2013.
We give thanks on Thanksgiving, take advantage of deals on Black Friday and Cyber Monday—but on #GivingTuesday, we generously give back to the world. We cannot be thankful enough or give enough. So, here’s why I am thankful:
I’m thankful to live in a time and place where food is abundant and we can enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables year-round.
Let us find a way to wisely share our bounty with the almost billion people worldwide who go to sleep hungry and the 19 million children who suffer from acute malnutrition, which kills 3.5 million a year.
I give thanks for shelter that is warm and accessible.
May we help the 23,000 people a day who are forced to leave their homes and seek protection elsewhere, swelling the ranks of the forcibly displaced to over 45 million worldwide.
I’m grateful to be living in a time when armies are not ravaging our land; when conflicts are settled by ballots and judges; and where I can kiss my wife and daughter goodbye in the morning and see them in the evening – while others also peacefully go to work or school or play.
Let us pray for those in lands like Syria (over 100,000 dead) and the Congo (over 5 million dead) where war still takes lives, destroys families, and shatters hope. Let us work to ensure our nation is part of the solution and not the problem.
I am thankful to live in a land where my family and our neighbors can practice our diverse faiths in peace.
May respect be renewed in Nigeria, the Central African Republic, the Middle East and all the other lands where peace is senselessly dashed by sectarian violence.
I am grateful to live at a unique moment in the history of humanity when we can:
- travel around the world in 80 hours
- easily communicate with friends and family scattered wherever they are
- benefit from medical care that extends our lives
- literally reach for the stars
- have enough leisure time to travel, play and enjoy life as we choose
Let us work together so that this does not become a unique moment in the history of humanity when:
- We allow our industry and growing population to wreak havoc with our climate and destroy the wonderful balance with nature that allows us to thrive on Mother Earth.
May we adopt new global rules we will all live by, to sustain our children and all of the other species of the Earth. - Hate, anger, and greed sows dreadful genocide again and again—and all the United Nations and its states can do is stand by and watch in horror.
May we work for an empowered UN with the means to responsibly protect all of our families. - Nuclear terror is unleashed – by suitcase bomb or B1 bomber.
May we be wise enough to hammer the swords of nuclear destruction into plowshares.
On #GivingTueday please contribute to make
this vision, this dream, this prayer
a reality.
