You had a long day at school, so you get home, kick off your shoes and plop down on the couch. The basic cable channels don’t have much to offer, so you meander to the kitchen to scavenge for food; lunch was a whole three hours ago. The fridge is bare, and you realize your mom hasn’t gone grocery shopping in a week. You know you could warm that can of SpaghettiOs from the pantry in the microwave, but you’d rather gag. What seems like a terrible day to us would seem like a day in paradise to others less fortunate. Think about it. We have access to free, public education; we have homes with heat, furnishings and food. And here we are complaining. According to worldhunger.org, 925 million people went hungry in 2010. Are we too privileged or too spoiled to not realize how truly blessed we are in so many areas? With the recent hurricane Sandy striking the Northeast, many people were without power or even homes. Sometimes it’s difficult to appreciate something until you don’t have it anymore. If you’re not convinced, try going without electricity for a day. There’s no turning on the light, using the microwave or going on the Internet. You wouldn’t even be able to tweet about how terrible it is! We as a society so often take everyday things for granted. You wake up to shower for the morning, and there’s no hot water. Does anyone ever think to be thankful for the fact that we have access to clean, running water? You get strep throat over the summer, so you go to the doctor and get a prescription filled; next thing you know, you’re all better. Do we as a society realize that not everyone has access to health care or even medicine? With Thanksgiving approaching, the thought of being thankful comes to mind more often than usual. Even though this holiday is only celebrated once a year, that doesn’t mean we should only realize how fortunate we are once a year. So when Mom burns the turkey, don’t harp on the fact that your meal could be better; be thankful for the fact that you have a family with access to food. Be thankful you have so much. All year.