Gratitude for our abundance of heroes

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” - William Arthur Ward, American author, teacher, scholar and pastor.

All of us could come up with things to complain or worry about today. Too many bills, not enough money. Still looking for a good job, or any job at all. The rude, selfish neighbor next door. Children who seems to misbehave more than they obey. Relatives who irritate. A toilet that springs a leak just as the first holiday guest arrives. And so forth.

But that's not what today is all about. Thanksgiving is about genuine gratitude for so many kinds of bounty all of us can appreciate.

Examples abound in Eastern Iowa. Such as the many heroes and heroic organizations - and the unsung heroes who anchor them. Such as:

Churches - whose members go outside church walls to lift up anyone facing a desperate situation.

Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts - whose leaders and youth live out their lessons of achievement and service to others.

Homeless and safe shelters - whose staffs go largely unrewarded and unrecognized for comforting desperate people at all hours of the day.

Food pantries - where many volunteers who gather, stock and hand out the basics of life to those in need.

Community Health Free Clinic in Cedar Rapids - Where medical professionals and others contribute time and talent to provide health care for those without means.

Neighbors who get involved - including Isaiah Jones and Maurice Jones, two Cedar Rapids fathers who organized a group to provide positive male influences and work to reduce violence in their southeast Cedar Rapids neighborhood.

The Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation - which helped Jason Pershing and Trent Gaines give back to the Jane Boyd Community House where they played as boys by organizing a summer hoops program to help keep teens out of trouble.

Our schools - where many teachers and staff go beyond their job descriptions to give children from all walks of life reason to believe someone cares about their future.

The Iowa National Guard - which this fall deployed 2,800 soldiers, including hundreds from our region, to serve in Afghanistan and add to this state's lofty legacy of service to our country.

And on it goes every day in so many settings and neighborhoods. Countless reasons to be thankful and express it. Every day.