30 real reasons to be grateful for living

I did not enjoy Barrie Davenport’s piece entitled 30 Reasons to be Grateful for Living. When your list includes items such vagaries as nature, emotions, life and service people, it fails the obvious test and ceases to be meaningful. You simply cannot list life as one of the reasons that you are grateful for living.

It makes no sense. 

And I’m sorry, but placing a reason like service people alongside nature and the sun is just asking for trouble.

In response, I have listed 3o legitimate reasons to be grateful for living. While not every item on my list may apply to you, I hope that the items are at least better than the nonsense on Davenport’s list.

30 Real Reasons to be Grateful For Living
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The opportunity to find out how Game of Thrones (books or HBO series) ends

Death can hurt

Bruce Springsteen is recording a new album

The iPhone 5 goes on sale soon

Alien life could be discovered at any moment (or alien life could discover us)

Ben and Jerry are still inventing ice cream combinations

According to the Bible, only 144,000 people will go to Heaven. If you are a person of faith, what are the chances that you are one of the 144,000 most Heaven-deserving people who ever lived and will live?

There’s always a chance for a hole-in-one on any short par 3 (and if you’re not playing golf, learning to play the game is reason enough to live)

The chance to say “I told you so” to the climate-change denying lunatics as polar ice becomes a thing of the past

Legalized gay marriage in all 50 states will happen sooner than you think

JFK assassination documents are still waiting declassification

Immortality is near 

The possibility of flying cars

Hotdogs

The continued relaxing of arbitrary dress codes in all walks of life

The chance to see if my latest book becomes a New York Times bestseller

Faster mobile Internet is just around the corner

David Sedaris’s next book might not be series of silly parables

Confirmation of the Higgs boson is just months away 

Your favorite sports team could win a championship next year

Jimmy Hoffa’s body (or Jimmy Hoffa) could be found

The inevitability of self driving cars 

The opportunity to laugh in the face of the 2012 Mayan doomsday fanatics 

Scientists are making progress in bringing the wholly mammoth back to life via cloning

The smell of a newborn

The discovery of Amelia Earhardt’s plane remains a distinct possibility

The inevitable lifting of all profanity restrictions on television (declaring that certain assemblages of letters are so offensive that they cannot be uttered on television is silly and only serves to enhance their power)

This.

The chance to watch Facebook die a slow, painful death.