As we approach our annual day of thanks, I can't but help to think of the fact that the only animal that regularly mistreats its own is the human animal. The only animal that leaves its own out in the cold is man. Often enough, the animal we call mankind is anything but kind.

As we all sit down with our families, friends and loved ones this Thanksgiving day, please remember those that served their country only to come back and discover they had lost it all. Please remember the children who are growing up in shelters, or even worse, on the street. Please say a prayer for those, who by no fault of their own, find a cold patch of concrete the only home they have. No one grows up saying "I want to be homeless when I am older." No veteran that has served this country ever expected to have nowhere to turn when he or she returned home. No child expects to be cold and hungry as they lay their head down to sleep.

Sometimes its the economy. Sometimes its a relationship that went awry. Sometimes its a medical, emotional or psychological issue that has affected someone to the point they can not maintain a "normal" life. In the book of Matthew, chapter 7, verses 1 through 3, we are told:

Judge not, that ye be not judged...

For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

Next time you pass someone on the street who may just need a hand-up, not necessarily a hand out, if you can't afford to give the change that is in your pocket, maybe a kind word of encouragement, one that will not cost you a dime, would be in order. Please remember, that it could be any of us in that situation. As in the words of 19th century British reformist John Bradford, "there, but for the Grace of God, go I..."

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.

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