Ask HN: What are you thankful for? • Hacker News Board

ryacko wrote: post #110

mikekchar wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very interesting. For about the past 2 years, I've been suffering from mysterious symptoms that seem to have no physical origin. My doctors have suggested that it's "in my head" or "stress related illness" and I'm completely open to that idea (in fact I welcome it). However, the biggest problem I've had is, "Where the heck do I go from there?" If it's all in my head, how do I get it out of my head? I'm definitely goi…

I recommend reading what Mark Twain’s experiences with Christian Science was. (Which was that everything is imaginary?) http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3187

Well, I think his book very clearly spells out the other problems with those kinds of organisations. :-) Definitely not my thing, but I have a more nuanced view of things these days.

Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?

#115

Post by alexilliamson » Fri, Nov 23, 2018, 3:47 AM UTC

Film and music.

Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?

#116

Post by notyouravgdoge » Fri, Nov 23, 2018, 3:56 AM UTC

askafriend wrote: post #2

1. I can go into a grocery store and buy whatever I want without once thinking about the price of something or the total bill. It's an incredible privilege - one that I hadn't really thought about much until recently - but now I can't stop thinking how thankful I am for it. 2. I can go home to my parent's house whenever I want and I'm lucky to have supportive, loving parents and an extended family that openly support…

This post resonated with me.

I'm in my mid-20s and just a few years ago I would memorize grocery prices and track the value of the items I had in my shopping cart. Chicken breast at $2.99 per pound compared to beef flank at $8.99 per pound...I guess I'm eating chicken. Yellow onions for 79 cents each...since the store isn't charging by the pound, I'll dig through the onions and find the largest one.

These days I can spend the occasional $15 on a cocktail or $40 on a meal without thinking twice. I believe growing up in a lower income family gives me a greater appreciation for what I have now. Happy Thanksgiving!

Edit: Most importantly, I'm grateful for my (immigrant) parents' hard work and the sacrifices they made to provide me with the opportunities I have today.

Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?

#117

Post by vedant » Fri, Nov 23, 2018, 4:10 AM UTC

I'm thankful for all the extremely improbable things that had to happen for me to have the experience I'm having.

I am thankful

- To have been born to loving, educated parents

-To live in a time and place with economic and social liberty

- To have a loving and growing group of friends and family around the world who live interesting and inspiring lives

-To live in a time where so many of us can travel at the speed of sound and communicate at the speed of light

-To be able to ask any question, purchase any common object, or want to see any loved one face-to-face, and have my wish fulfilled by a vast global network of machines that do our bidding

-For the millions of seekers, of wise men and women, who created wonders from the energy of the sun and the materials of the Earth, and showed us the way through the darkness

-That after 1000 trillion creatures and eons of failed attempts, one particular hairless ape on one particular wet rock evolved a 3 pound mass of flesh into the most sophisticated computational apparatus in the universe

- That it feels like anything at all to be thinking meat.

Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?

#118

Post by dbancajas » Fri, Nov 23, 2018, 4:44 AM UTC

abdussamit wrote: post #46

Growing up, I used to disagree with how my parents used to think about things, and I also used to call them out (maybe I kept that in my heart mostly out of respect) whenever they did something wrong. That was because I never perhaps knew how some parents were? Because as I grew, went to high-school and then at job, I saw people who had an abusive father, a drug-addict sibling, or a controlling mother. And now, I rea…

yeah man. I am a parent right now and I can't even think of leaving my kids to work in another country full time w/o my family.

Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?

#119

Post by abvdasker » Fri, Nov 23, 2018, 4:56 AM UTC

A good job as a software engineer that pays me generously enough to meet all my basic needs and enough leftover to feel a level of security and help out my family when they need it. Far too many people in the world have to live without financial security and I'm thankful that I have it.

Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?

#120

Post by sandov » Fri, Nov 23, 2018, 5:03 AM UTC

Having all my extremities working perfectly, no diseases or major health issues.

Being born in a country with decent standards of living (Chile). Yeah, it's not as good as the US or Switzerland, but it's much better than every other latinamerican country, and better than most of the world.

Having access to the Internet, you guys understand better than anyone else why it's such a privilege.

Speaking English. I learned as a teenager playing videogames (Morrowind Curiosity. I always want to understand how things work, in fact, it's what gives meaning to my life: Understading and applying the knowledge to create cool things.