Jocko Willink and Leif Babin write:

When American servicemen and women travel the world, they are often exposed to things that most Americans do not have to see. This includes unspeakable atrocities by vicious and brutal oppressors who use torture, rape, and murder to impose fear and intimidation on innocent civilians.

It includes slavery -- not some diminished, modern version -- but sadistic and disgusting enslavement where human beings are owned and treated as property. Many of these slaves are just children, with no hope and no dreams -- only suffering and misery.

Being in the military, deploying around the world, gives American service members insight into how a large part of the rest of the world lives: hungry, abused, uneducated, submissive, fearful, and hopeless.

"If you have seen war and its horrors," Willink and Babin continue, "if you have seen the savagery of evil people against innocents, if you have seen what real class warfare looks like, or what truly unchecked domination from a despotic regime does to its people, then you cannot be anything but immensely thankful and appreciative for the right and privilege to be an American."

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Breitbart publishes this from Jarrett Stepman:

Although often seen as a day to kick off the Christmas shopping season, Thanksgiving is perhaps the most deeply American holiday and its tradition is connected to the idea of "American exceptionalism."

Here are the concluding remarks: 

Americans today are privileged to live in a country based on timeless principles and aided by the sturdiest men and women who often made great sacrifices to ensure the blessings of liberty for both themselves and future generations.

Americans have much to be thankful for, and as busy as life may be, as occupied with the multitude of distractions that come with unparalleled prosperity, Thanksgiving should provide at least a brief moment to acknowledge the true blessing of living in an exceptional country.

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