Top Nine Blessings to Be Thankful for as an American - Celebrating the Birth of Our Nation

Being that this week concludes with the Celebration of the birth of the United States of America or 4th of July for short, I'd like to dedicate all posts this week to this great land.

Today's focus is, "Top Nine Blessings to Be Thankful for as an American." Most of us take these things for granted not realizing that these conveniences and pleasures are not experienced by so many around the world. Don't take this as a criticism! This is meant to more of an eye opening post about the things we are so fortunate to have here in America.

Top Nine Blessings to Be Thankful for as an American:

• Hospitals filled with life saving equipment, medication, and educated people to help us, all within a short drive of our home. When I went to the British Virgin Islands I hoped that I wouldn't have a medical emergency (thankfully I didn't!) The hospital was small and antiquated looking not to mention it wasn't around the corner.
• Doctors with specialities of all types that ease our pain, resolve our medical issues, and help us to take preventative action for our health. Did you know in many countries who either don't have dentists or can't afford to go walk around without most of their teeth because they've rotted and fallen out? Not only does that look unattractive, but it makes it difficult to eat. You don't see that often in the USA because of our educated dentists.
• Prescriptions with easy access. If you don't have any medical problems, you don't give much thought to this, but if you do, you come to appreciate how the quality of life can be improved with the use of prescriptions (even with those pesky side effects!) In America, we have pharmacies on every corner, in our supermarkets, and available through the mail. And although we may complain about the co-pays, we'd hesitate if stopped to investigate the total cost which is picked up by insurance if we have it.
• Food everywhere. I wrote a post last week on how fortunate we are to have access to good food every where we turn. Check out my post on Eatin' Good.
• Little luxuries. I have a huge armoire filled with jewelry - costume and real gold. Between my husband and I, we have four cars, one of them being a Corvette (my favorite!) We have tons of clothes, nice home decor, TV's, computers, other technology gadgets, and on and on and on. My point? I am not trying to brag - I just want us to realize that at any given time, we can go to one of numerous stores and get what we want. That's no so for everyone in the world.
• Freedom. This is one of our most precious possession which we'll talk about later this week.
• Civil order. For the most part, we can walk the streets of our country without feeling too much concern. Mostly we have civil order on our streets thanks to the thousands of police officers that keep it that way. There are no bombers or non-stop shooting on our streets. Yes, you have the criminals who make waves for the rest of us, but for the most part we are a civil nation.
• Fancy homes. How fortunate we are to have the protection of our beautiful homes, filled with luxuries and modern conveniences like air conditioning, plumbing, and electricity. Even the most basic of homes are still much better than the living conditions for some around the world.
• Education. Our children get a great education these days, learning things I never learned or didn't learn until high school (and I am only 33!) and we're fortunate to have community colleges, colleges, universities, and trade schools to better ourselves and our careers.

What am I forgetting? There are so many more things big and small and we'll talk about them as we lead up to the 4th of July. Feel free to share your own thoughts on blessings we enjoy in the U.S.

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Wishing you "Blessings from Above,"

Denise

Tuesday - Blessing Others - suggestions how you can be a blessing to others.

Learning is one of my favorite things to do - it's become quite a hobby actually. I've been in school in the structured school setting for my Associate, Bachelor's and Master's degree. And all the while I was taking those classes, I was taking classes for fun in my spare time. My life was and sometimes still is, one big class. Basket weaving (yes, seriously!), Financial planning, photography are among my top favorite.

After I achieved my Master's degree in Writing in May of 2007, I swore I'd never take another class. Those who know me well knew that wouldn't last long. Before I knew it I found myself in a training class to be a volunteer at a local animal shelter and I often attend trainings at my job (at a University of course!) that I am not even required to take. Then of course there are wine classes and the possibility of glass blowing courses in my future. Like I said, I really love to learn.

But what does this have to do with blessings? Well for starters, God has given me the ambition to learn new things and better myself. Without realizing it my life has really been improved because of these classes. I've made new friends, embarked on many social outings, written articles on my new found knowledge, and created beautiful things I can be proud of and pass along to future family.

I am also very future that we have access to such wonderful things in our country. Many in other areas of the world are struggling just to survive and here, I have so many things to take advantage of. I don't have a long enough life to explore all of the things that I could!

And finally, and post importantly, I blessed by those who have the knowledge and better still, are willing to share it. Today's theme is how to be a blessing to others and that's exactly how you can do it - by taking the time to share something with someone else that could ultimately help improve their lives, get a better job, or maybe just make a new friend. To you it may just be transferring knowledge from your brain to someone else's, but to someone else, that knowledge can be life alter.

And you don't need some biggie big skill to teach others. It can be a simple as teaching how to do domestic chores efficiently or grocery shopping 101. It really can help someone else. Be a blessing to others - be their teacher in some way.

Thanks to all the wonderful teachers that I've had and that are currently in my life. You are a blessing.

Wishing you "Blessings from Above,"
Denise