Remembering to Give Thanks (11-30-09)

It might have seemed well planned that I posted an article thanking a referee during the week of Thanksgiving. Truth be told though, this year I almost forgot about our national holiday.

For each of the last three years, I have written a Thanksgiving column. In 2006, my family and I were thankful for the new job in the new town with a new baby on the way. In 2007, I wrote about National Reading day and how thankful I was for literacy. Last year, I took a moment to give thanks for all the “less than pleasant” things I “get to do.”

I could (and perhaps should) simply rewrite the 2006 article. While the newness may have worn off, my family and I remain grateful to live in such a great community, and we are thankful for all the friends who have made our lives so rich and rewarding. Thank you, Hill City, thank you.

Yet, with all the good things to commemorate, somehow I failed to “memorate” any of them. The gutsy performance by Dan Worcester just happened to occur the week before Thanksgiving, and I didn’t realize I had written a “Thank You” article to be published before the national day of thanks.

I am thankful for that as well. Thank you, God, for small wonders and good timing!

But if I had to pick something particular to this year and to this time in my life, I would have to write about my gratitude at having a job. Yes, this week governor Parkinson announced his budget cuts for education, and needless to say, the news is bleak. I’ll leave the details for another time, and I might just leave the entire ugly mess for a proper journalist to dissect. I hear the Salina Journal has a very thorough article on the subject.

But for me, I think the state of our economy really hit home in talking with family and friends over the Thanksgiving break. One of my sisters related how hard her profession has been hit by the recession and how lucky she feels to still have a position in a field where jobs are becoming ever more scarce. I also heard about the meager job prospects for a talented nephew who recently graduated from college.

My wife and I also visited a good friend in Wichita, a teacher for the Wichita school district. Hearing about all the massive job losses in our state’s largest school district was sobering, and nobody thinks the state budget is anywhere close to bottoming out.

As I talk about school finance, I continually try to remind myself not to complain, not to sound too whiny or self-absorbed. Because, really, as an educator I am better off than most. I have a job in a profession where there are still some jobs to be had. The cuts from last year, this year, and in the following years may never fully solve the teacher shortage problem. All the information I’ve seen point to an aging job force of teachers and administrators. As with Hill City last year, many districts will be able to absorb the cuts at least partially by not hiring back positions from which people retire. Undoubtedly, some educators have and will lose their jobs due to reduction in force as districts try to do more with less. But there aren’t a lot of young teachers coming out of college and so the number of job openings hasn’t completely disappeared as they have in other professions.

So, this Thanksgiving, I’m thankful to not only have a job, but to have a job I love in a profession that needs me in a town that seems glad to have me around. The challenge now is how to help those without work, or stuck in temporary or part time jobs. Things will turn around, they always do. In the meantime, I will count my blessings and try to be a blessing to those around me.

Even in these hard times, we must never forget to give thanks.