Go ahead and cheer up someone for Thanksgiving

In a world that sometimes seems dangerous and inhospitable, today is the day we pause to count our blessings and remember how much good is around us if only we will take the time to look.

We hope you are surrounded today by family and friends. If not, know there are ample opportunities for you to make new friends at places such as the Carson Nugget, which is offering its annual free Thanksgiving dinner between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. today.

The dinner is intended to help people in need - and there is no limit on the definition. People who don't have the money or means for a holiday feast, of course, but the tradition at the Nugget has also always extended to anyone who needs a bit of companionship, someone to talk with for awhile or simply wants to be around people during a holiday. Go with the idea of cheering up someone else.

In addition to the Nugget, many other groups and individuals have been gathering turkeys and fixings to distribute where they are needed most. We hope, for one day at least, no one in Carson City goes hungry.

For the more fortunate among us, there is plenty for which we should give thanks - each for his own reasons, each in his own way.

Far be it from us to fuel a controversy on a holiday, but we do think it's worth pointing out who Abraham Lincoln had in mind when on Oct. 3, 1863, he proclaimed the official Thanksgiving holiday:

"It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father Who dwelleth in the heavens."