There are lots of articles with conflicting arguments on big and small issues. There are tons of blogs that tell you what you should do – including this one, on occasion. But let’s put that aside today.

Thanksgiving Day is less than two months away, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take some time to just flat-out be thankful for some stuff. Think about it: we are all blessed to have a ton of stuff in our lives that we just didn’t have 10, 20, or 30 years ago. Heck, the last century has been chock-full of innovations that we use every day, yet we sit here and complain about how crappy life is. Here’s comedian Louis C.K. to elaborate:

Now, I’ve seen this video for months, and it recently resurfaced on Facebook, where one of my friends posted it. It’s gotten me to thinking: what kinds of stuff do I take for granted that are absolute, unheard-of miracles for different generations? Here’s a few things I came up with:

Driving a car.

People really complain about having to drive long distances. I enjoy them. First of all, I’m 24 years old. If you had given me the opportunity to drive a car ten years ago, I would have flipped out in excitement! I was so anxious to get the chance! Think back to when you were a kid, or even worse, when you were in your early high school years. You had a social life, but you had to get a ride from your parents, or anybody, to go anywhere. I have the power to move a ton of steel across long distances using my foot and hands. I can listen to whatever music I want to the entire time, and I can control the atmosphere and how hot or cold I would like to be while I do it. This is a long way from covered wagons and saddling up your horse. When I was a kid, there were maybe three or four cars in the driveway: my mom’s, my dad’s, and a car or two for my three brothers. Now, if everybody rides with their families, there are SIX cars in the driveway when we visit my parents. It’s an incredible privilege!

A roof over my head.

I may not be able to pay rent on time every month, and it may be draftier than anything else I’ve ever lived in, but I live in the upper level of a house. It’s my space. I have an oven, running water, a working bathroom, and heat (for the most part). Even on its coldest day, that apartment is 50 or 60 degrees warmer than the outside – and when it’s January in Wisconsin, you are darn thankful for that! It’s not a tepee, it’s not a tent, it’s not a cabin. It’s a house, and it protects me.

Endless entertainment options.

When I was younger and sharing a bedroom with my brother, we had a terribly old television. We didn’t have cable in our room, and the antenna was broken. On a good day, we could get maybe three channels that were watchable. And you know what? We were happy – it was a TV, for crying out loud! Now, with the over-the-air HDTV signal, I can use an antenna and currently get TEN channels with a crystal-clear picture, for free. I could even get more, but those are just the ones I have saved on my TV. There are piles of DVDs in my living room. I get shocked when I hear people talk about how they would “go crazy” without cable television. Are you kidding me? Give me a break! You can read books online, get them from the library, read or watch just about anything online, and feed most of that to your television. If all else fails, you can get in that car we just talked about and go somewhere else. You have no right to be bored anymore.

The sheer spread of information.

This blog currently gets between 75-100 hits a day. Fifty to seventy-five people read what I have to write. Every day. There are websites that currently get hundreds of thousands of people to read what they have to say every month. Twitter has turned the Web into real-time. It wasn’t long ago that people sat around waiting for another book to be published – months, even years! Ideas can spread faster than ever, and speaking of speed…

Email.

I talk a lot about Gmail, but that aside, think about what we can send through email now. We can send files, information, invoices, songs, photographs, video, and just about anything else through email. I can be on the phone with someone, hit “send”, and actually HEAR the email arrive on their computers. Long gone are the days when you wrote something down and gave it to a guy on a horse with a bottle of whiskey, so that it would reach your loved one in a week or two. Why aren’t we ever thankful for that privilege?

Webcams.

Other than the cool silver jumpsuits and the flying cars, one of the most common “pictures of the future” was the videophone. Sure, as a standalone device, it has never really hit it big. But, with services like Skype and Google Talk and MSN Messenger that allow you to attach a webcam and video chat with your friends, the technology is HERE. This morning, I looked my girlfriend in the eyes and said “Good morning”, we shared a few laughs and smiles, and she showed me different options for what she was going to use to decorate my windows for fall (*sigh*). We don’t live together. She’s 20 minutes away. I didn’t get in my car and drive her there. We did that seamlessly through the webcam. How cool is that? I previously dated a girl who was living in Taiwan, and we were able to video chat through our computers in real-time; when it was sunny out on my end, it was nighttime on hers, and vice versa. It makes the world feel so big, and yet so small.

Wireless everything.

My phone can call anywhere in the country, and even send and receive pictures, video, and text. My computer can do all that and more. My Zune gets podcasts that are downloaded off of my computer. My laptop even sends video files and live television feeds to my television through my XBox 360. The catch? The only cords coming out of these devices are going to the wall for electricity, and most of them can even be unplugged from that. Wireless networks have made incredible strides in recent years, and it’s astonishing that you can use these things without missing a beat these days. I think this is one of the most underappreciated technologies around today. Just sit back and think about it. Could you have imagined this ten or fifteen years ago – at least at this level?

Affordable computers.

In the early ‘90s, my family got our first computer. It didn’t do much, but we were crazy for it. We always fought over who got to use it. There was one computer in the house, and that was it. Now, we all have our own. Computers used to be as big as warehouses. The only houses without computers these days belong to our grandparents. Television used to be that way, then it became cable TV. Now, you’re a nobody if you don’t have a computer.

DVR.

Put somebody who’s used to a DVR in front a TV that doesn’t have one, and be prepared to listen to them complain during every commercial break. There was a time when commercials were great opportunities to grab a sandwich or hit up the bathroom. Now, because we can pause everything, we have no need for commercial breaks. When I tell people that I watch live TV when I need to see something, they turn their noses up at me. Big deal. Be thankful the technology is here so that you don’t have to be so inconvenienced!

My Zune Pass.

Fine, I get it. The Zune Pass isn’t for everybody. I’ve learned that. But for my own personal music desires, having the ability to legally obtain an unlimited amount of music is unbelievable. In 1996, I got my first compact disc. It was a big deal. [For the record, it was “Big Willie Style” by Will Smith, and I am not ashamed.] In 1999, I burned my first custom CD mix. Now, I can pack whatever I want, whenever I want, into a device that fits in my pocket. I can plug it into my ears and listen to anything while I go for a run, or take it in the car and have full control over what I’m listening to for hours. I don’t have to pack a stack of CDs or cassette tapes. I don’t need to lug around a big ol’ boombox or an awkward Walkman. It’s just in this tiny, pocket-sized box. Pretty cool.

Cloud computing.

Email. Creating documents. Editing and manipulating photos. Assembling spreadsheets. Keeping track of appointments and events. Playing games with your friends. These were things that you used a computer for, but you did it offline. What about things like sharing photos and videos with your loved ones, getting driving directions, your daily news, and balancing your checkbooks? You used to not even do these things with computers. Now it’s all done online. The days of needing a bloated, expensive computer are over. With the reliability of today’s internet connections, you can do it all online for free and access it from anywhere, even your mobile phone. Unbelievable.

Well, what about you? What are you thankful for? What makes you go, “Man, life is pretty good sometimes!”?

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