More Things to be Thankful For.

Scientists and medical professionals. I don't mean to separate Physicians and other Medical Doctors from PhD scholars, but there are differences.

First, consider the scientists who are not involved directly in medicine. Their never-ending search for truth has done so much to improve our lives. In ways we daily take for granted.

As recently as the 1960s, I remember concerns about a possible world-wide food shortage. Fifty years later, scientific advances in pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, genetic engineering, animal health & well-being and farming practices in general. has resulted in a food supply threatened more by politics than by actual shortages.

And, just think what the medical community has given us. In recent years, five acquaintances have had hip replacement. At one time, hip failure meant confinement to a wheel chair. Today these people are all fully mobile and pain free.

In the year 2000, someone dear to me endured major surgery for lung cancer. Today this person is cancer free, healthy and hardy.

In the 1950s, it appeared that Polio was a real and present danger for everyone. Today, Polio is no more.

How blessed we are that people in laboratories toil endlessly to solve our most dangerous problems. No wonder the workplace of a scientist is called a laboratory... it is, indeed, a place of intense labor.

As you give thanks for the turkey and dressing, remember to include scientists, all that strive to bring you that abundant feast and your good health.