An Expression of Thanks

It snowed here yesterday and last night. The usual traffic paralysis set in, and it took me nearly 2 hours to go 9 miles to work yesterday morning. Such circumstances are rarely conducive to feeling thankful for much of anything. But as I saw snow crews working the streets late into the night, I was once again reminded of the many everyday people who do the heavy lifting that allow white collar folks like me to do what I do. So today I give thanks to:

1) Firefighters who save homes, protect forests, and risk their lives each time they go out.

2) Snow removal crews who keep crazy hours during snow season to keep roads clear not only so that people can get to work, but also so that people can get to hospitals, airports, and vulnerable loved ones. Imagine the chaos of the pre-snow grocery store rush multiplied by 6 or 7, and that's what we would have if snow crews weren't doing their job.

3) Power company employees, who likewise keep crazy hours in the aftermath of violent storms that knock out power on a wide scale. Particularly in winter, when having to sleep in a house without power on a bitterly cold night can be life threatening, crews who subject themselves to the cold so that we might have warmth often become the most important people on earth.

4) Cleaning crews, who clean offices, homes, and high-rises. The bathrooms we use are useable because of them. Office building lobbys are safe from people slipping on water and salt because of them. Children who get their hands and mouths into everything aren't constantly sick in part because of the job cleaning crews do. Try living in a place that is dirty, scummy, and clearly not sanitary to get a sense of what life would be like without these people.

5) Our military, especially those stationed overseas. Regardless of how one feels about war in general or any war in particular, we should all be able to appreciate the immense sacrifice that comes from being separated from home and family for long periods of time doing difficult duty. Military personnel who don't get to spend Thanksgiving or Christmas with their families, who have to miss the birth of their child, or are unable to be present during a family crisis at home pay an enormous price in wearing the uniform and going wherever their commander tells them to go.

6) Taxi and tow truck drivers, who get us from place to place when we are separated from our normal modes of transportation. Believe me, there is no greater sight when you're sitting at an airport at 3am than an available taxi cab. And there is no greater sight when you are stranded somewhere than a tow truck that can assist you.

7) School bus drivers, who put up with an unbelievable amount of crap everyday in order to get kids to school. Think about it - driving a bus as the only adult with 30-50 often unruly kids behind you to get them to school safely where they might learn the kind of skills they need to have a bright future. Is that worthy of thanks? You betcha.

8) Postal workers, who deliver the mail. Some of the most important things we ever experience are directly linked to the mail. College acceptance letters, wedding invitations, baby announcements, and assorted other vital paperwork all bring our postal worker into the loop of our lives. Even in our day of internet banking and online e-cards, it is still the case that the mail is critically important in our day to day lives.

This is my 'thinking out loud' list, though I'm sure it's very incomplete. It's also worth remembering that many folks who perform these jobs are working class folks and immigrants who don't live nearly as well off as most of us do. Though my thanks to them is very inadequate, I offer it to them in high gratitude for all they do.

What other folks are worthy of thanks that work thankless jobs?