Ten Things, I, as an Atheist, Am Thankful For

At Thanksgiving, some will say they feel sorry for atheists because we have no God to thank for anything. I would like to say, don't feel sorry for us. We simply thank the person responsible for what we are thankful for or keep with ourselves a feeling that we are lucky when we can't directly thank the person responsible. So, we thank the hostess for cooking the turkey, the mailman for delivering our mail, and the garbage man for hauling away our trash instead.

But, you might wonder about those other things we are lucky to have, those things we can no longer thank any particular person for. In those cases, I think about the thing I'm thankful for and I try to, now and then, make some real-world action such as charity work to ensure that as many people have a as good a shot at these good things in life as I do. Listed below (in no particular order) are ten such things that I'm thankful for.

I am thankful for antiseptic procedures and antiseptics. Since the invention of antiseptic procedures surgical survival has significantly increased, infant mortality fallen, and injuries once invariably fatal are now possible to survive.

I am thankful for antibiotics. Thousands of antibiotics have been invented since penicillin hit the scene in 1928. Each year, millions of lives are saved or improved by the use of those antibiotics.

I am thankful for anesthesia and pain medications. Before the invention of modern pain medications, even minor surgical procedures could be terribly painful. Today, most surgery is relatively painless, because of the use of anesthesia.I am thankful for indoor plumbing. Once upon a time, people just used a bowl to catch their wastes and then tossed it out their windows into the streets below. The waste built up in the streets and spread disease as well as smelling horrible and making the thought of long dresses a horror to contemplate! Indoor plumbing, especially the modern toilet, allows us to have cities without squelching through filth.

I'm thankful for the development of language. Human speech allows us to communicate with each other, to ameliorate our loneliness in this world, to share vital information, and to get to know one another.

I'm thankful for agriculture. When humans were hunter-gatherers we ate whatever food we could find or hunt. The development of agriculture has enabled us to calm down and have a permanent home. We also got to eat more, better food and more often. Not only did agriculture lead to permanent housing, it led to trade which led to writing.

I'm thankful for permanent shelters. Permanent shelters allow us sleep in the same place night after night in comfort without having to seek refuge in a new location or travel from place to place as the seasons change. Without permanent shelters, what would we call home?

I'm thankful for the invention of writing. Writing gives us the ability to communicate across time and distance. You can see the thoughts of the long dead or the faraway. We may also record our thoughts to share with others and ourselves as time goes on.

I'm thankful for the wheel. Wheels get everything moving. Without the wheel, we'd probably still be tugging barges along canals and we likely would be as technologically advanced as we are now.

I am thankful for democracy. Democracy gives us the opportunity to make our voices heard in society and (in theory) equal treatment under the law.

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