Day Twenty-Two: 30 Days of Gratitude

Joe's Gratitudes:
     I am grateful tonight for the USPS.  I know that they are a prime example of how top-heavy and indebted government agencies get into trouble, but I still love the postal service.  I like the idea that they have been carrying on the same job since Ben Franklin.  I love the variety of great stamps they have created throughout the years.  I love the fact that they come by your house six days a week.  They have their issues, but I'll stand behind them a while yet.
     I am grateful for interesting packaging.  Be it a cool-looking box in the mail, or a well-wrapped Christmas present.  I am excited to see our plans for special packaging for our business become reality: Brown paper and paper tape, twine, rubber stamps, and letterpressed labels.
     I am grateful for the system of roads, rails, and sea and air routes that make transport possible.  I don't have to look back to the days of the Pony Express or the Inca quipu runners to realize just how great our system is.  I recall that while living in Central America fifteen years ago, it was not unusual for a letter to take a month to get to or from the States, and a package might take much longer.  In that light, waiting five days for my book from Amazon to arrive doesn't seem so bad at all.

Jill's Gratitudes:
     I am grateful for the invention of dog leashes and the fact that I use one.  I can't stand listening to my neighbor yell for her dogs every single night. . .
     I am grateful for the ability to self-educate!  Access to so much information and knowledge is literally at our finger tips through the Internet.  I love that last year I knew nothing about raising chickens or keeping bees and this year I know a lot about them both!
     I am grateful for my high school teacher Mr. Ogden.  I loved his class so much because he got us punk teenagers to actually learn how to think for ourselves; to look at an issue and think critically about it.  Every day we would debate current events and have complex conversations about things like; religion, abortion, gun control, the death penalty.  The content was pretty heavy but the actual knowledge gained had nothing to do with the content; we were building character and for that I will always be grateful for Mr. Ogden.

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