We can be thankful no matter how 2025 has been

As families gather on Thursday of this week and throughout the weekend to take a moment and reflect on the past year and to think about what we’re grateful for, there’s plenty of reasons in Jackson and Madison County to show gratitude.

We’re thankful that we’ve gone as long as we have with no major weather disasters.

Yes, there were areas of significant flooding for a few days in the spring and we’ve had a few times of concern when weather warning horns went off.

But except for that one time in May when the smallest tornado ever recorded on video literally touched down on Kirkland’s warehouse near the Jackson Regional Airport and the TBI headquarters on the western end of Jackson and rearranged a few pieces of material on the roof, it’s been a relatively calm weather year.

A significant portion of the county’s residents have dealt with financial troubles as farmers are dealing with pressures from the weather and climate of the South plus the fallout from political decisions made in Washington and Nashville.

Others are dealing with political fallout from the gridlock in Washington because I imagine more than a few whose income or benefits were affected by the government shutdown that ended earlier this month will have to deal with a few of the effects of that if dealing with penalties for missed payments or other things like that.

But for those who are in need, there are plenty of non-profit organizations standing in the gap and connecting those in need with the necessities they lack and plenty of people who have been able to avoid being in need that are willing to be generous and give when and where they can.

For those of us who’ve lost a loved one this year, as difficult as this may be, we can hopefully find a way to be grateful for having had the loved one.

If we weren’t grateful for them, we wouldn’t be grieving them.

For those who may be experiencing the first holiday season without a certain loved one, it will hurt and things will probably be different this year one way or another.

But hopefully there are other family members or friends you can reach out to or will check in on you to ensure you’re doing OK. Remember the loved ones, what they might add to a holiday gathering, specific memories that may bring a laugh or a tear and be grateful those conversations can be had because of the memories they were part of and the impact they made on you and the family.

And maybe this year has been so difficult that you’re having a hard time being thankful for what you have.

Those of us who’ve lived enough life can know that if a person looks around at other people, yes we may see others who might have more stuff than we do or have had an easier year than we’ve had.

But we can always find someone who would love to have what we do now.

Or we can possibly remember a time when we were wishing, hoping, praying and wanting what we do have now.

And once we have that realization, we can see that yes, things might could be better for us and may have actually been better, but we still have plenty to be thankful for.

Letters to the editor are encouraged as a venue for readers to voice their opinions on local matters or the occasional state or national matter. Letters can be e-mailed to brandon@jacksonpost.news.