We are told that faster is better, when in fact we know that’s not necessarily true. We are bombarded with information, regardless of how meaningless. We are sickened as we hear about children killing children, so sickened that we want to lock up these young murderers for the rest of their lives. We are worried about gashes in the moral fabric of our country, which some would argue is the root of our problems.

Yes, it seems as if our world is in the worst shape ever. Who allowed this to happen? Who said it was OK for us to live in fear, in fear that we or our loved ones could be the next victims?

We did.

We gave up, rolled over and played dead. We reasoned that if we ignored problems, they would ignore us.

We were wrong.

And now, during the week of Thanksgiving 1999, would be a perfect time for us to pledge that we will take back our lives, that we will exert ourselves in our effort to make this country, this world a more humane and more human place.

As we’ve heard before: If we are not part of the solution, we are part of the problem.

Our world’s problems are complex and many. It is our choice whether we work to solve them. Each of us has a decision to make.

The fact that we have the freedom to choose to solve these problems truly is something to be thankful for.