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Thanksgiving began as a fast, not a feast — a time for solemn reflection on the goodness of God.

We live in a different time now; many who dine on turkey give little thought to God. Perhaps we offer a prayer before we eat. Perhaps not.

And many in our country don't believe in God, or, if they think he exists, don't imagine that he expects much of them, or that he needs much in the way of thanking.

Whether you're a believer or not, however, Thanksgiving can be something more meaningful than bloatedly watching a football game.

There are people in our lives who bless us, and yet their kindness is so constant or so much time has passed that they go unrecognized and unthanked. It's not too late to let them know that what they do is noticed and remembered gratefully.

Old friends, constant relatives, even strangers whose names you don't know — it would brighten their day to hear a word of gratitude for actions they might have taken for granted themselves.

Isn't that the way with good people? They usually don't even notice they're being particularly good. They think everybody is like them.

Make the phone call. Or spend a few minutes writing an email or a letter to someone who has been kind to you. Or keep your eye out for human goodness in the season between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and speak to those whose acts you admire and appreciate.

For the expression of gratitude includes within it both praise and encouragement: Do more of this, because it's noticed and admired. We make the world around us more civilized when we thank those who smooth the way for others.

And for those to whom this time of year is about gratitude to God, remember this: God does many of his works through the actions of his children. To thank a brother or sister is also to thank the Father of us all.

This year I want to give thanks for things that we Americans often take for granted.

Government Workers

You take a lot of lip during the year, I know. If people catch you having a brief conversation with a co-worker, they grumble that you're wasting tax money. If you aren't walking quickly enough to please them, they complain that you're lazy. If they didn't read the signs and waited for half an hour in the wrong line, somehow it means that you're stupid or unfair.

But here's something that American government workers do that hardly anybody notices: You don't expect a bribe before you do the job you're paid for.

Do Americans understand how rare this is? In so many countries around the world, having a government job means that besides your salary, who have a golden opportunity to get rich by extorting cash from other citizens. If they need your rubber stamp on a document, if they need your permission to do something, you can force them to pay you a little something on the side.

This creates a wound in the economy of nation after nation, with government workers creating roadblocks and siphoning off cash. Like my friend who bought a computer in America and took it back to his own country. He was taken aside in Customs by a stern-looking official, who pretended to find something wrong with his paperwork.

But my friend knew what was going on. It was like an extra tax, to go with the man to a back room and there slip him $300. Suddenly all the problems went away, and my friend got his computer just fine.

Or the time a friend was showing me around in a former Communist country. Late at night, he made an illegal left turn ? there was no other traffic — but of course a policeman was lurking and he got pulled over. Leaving me in the car, he went back to chat with the officer.

He returned without a citation.

As he explained later, "The police are so underpaid that it makes their lives possible, to slip them fifty dollars. So I don't get points against my license, and he gets enough for his family to eat."

It makes sense, in a way. And yet ... wouldn't it be better to pay the cops enough that people didn't feel good about bribing them?

In America, we take it for granted that the vast majority of our public employees do their work for their salary, period. We are shocked, or at least angry, when we find out about the few who do take bribes. In most of the world (though not all!), nobody would be shocked at the bribery — they would only be surprised that somebody thought it was worth reporting.

To our honest government workers — which is all but a handful of you — I give my thanks.

Silent Soldiers

I've attended several conferences sponsored by the military. They bring in a bunch of civilian experts (and one sci-fi author who is an expert in nothing, but he wrote Ender's Game) and seat them at a table and each of them gives a presentation. Then they question each other in sharp-witted conversation, proving and testing each other's ideas.

During all of this, the walls of the room are lined with soldiers. Officers young and old, who listen.

Just listen.

Not that they don't have opinions. On the contrary — when I've met these same officers in other contexts, I have been deeply impressed by the level of intellectual rigor among our military.

I daresay that if you're looking for the sharpest thinking in America, you'll find more of it in the military than in the university ? because the military know that a lot of lives depend on their getting right answers, whereas is many academic departments absolutely nothing is at stake and they can teach and write any amount of nonsense without any effect in the real world.

But in those conferences, the soldiers sit silently against the wall, saying nothing; not even their faces show what they're thinking.

It is symbolic of the relationship of the military to all civilians. In America, not only do we claim to believe in civilian supremacy over the military, our Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine officers actually practice it.

I watched the most recent "debate" among the Democratic candidates for President and was saddened to hear statements that made it clear that if almost any of them were to win the office, our military would be treated with the same mixture of hostility, contempt, and neglect that was shown to them during the Clinton years.

Yet during those years when our military was misused, underfunded, and undersupplied, there was no revolt or mutiny. In the Democratic Party debate, nobody gave even the tiniest thought to the idea that the military might reject the decisions of a stupid, anti-defense President and throw him out of office.

Think of that! How many Latin American countries have been ruled by the military over the years? Sometimes it has been a blessing — it's the Turkish and Algerian militaries that have preserved them from Islamic dictatorships. Sometimes military rule has been a curse — one thinks of Pinochet in Chile and the Argentinian officers who murdered so many desaparecidos.

But in the United States, it doesn't cross anyone's mind that our military might ever overstep their bounds. We know that they are faithful to the Constitution — more faithful than many of the politicians who get to boss them around.

Even when led by fools, our soldiers obey. Democracy would not be possible if soldiers didn't defend it — while also leaving it alone.

To all you silent soldiers, who serve faithfully regardless of the quality of the elected and appointed officials we choose to place over you, I give my thanks.

Good Drivers

There are so many idiots on the road. What I hate worst is when I'm one of them.

I'm talking to someone or just thinking my own thoughts. My eyes register a green light far ahead and my aging brain does not seem to notice that there is a red light between me and that distant green. So I start to sail through the red light and the only reason I don't die on the spot (taking some poor innocent victim with me) is that the other drivers were careful enough to realize that there might be dolts like me on the road.

It happens to most of us at some time or another — we make a foolish mistake while driving, and our lives are saved because other drivers are more alert than we were. And in return, we also have times when we save their lives by our quick actions.

There are a lot of bad drivers out there, and yet our enormously intricate traffic system works so well that most of us travel thousands and thousands of miles each year without accidents or mishaps.

We notice the bad drivers, the hostile ones, the racers, the road-ragers, the idiots, the cellphone talkers, the child-distracted, the drunks, the old folks who swerve and stop suddenly as if they were the only ones on the road.

But let's also remember that the reason we notice these remarkably bad drivers is because they're relatively rare. Almost everyone is paying attention and doing a good job of piloting these huge hunks of lethal machinery.

Even people who can't get into college can be excellent drivers. It's not just about brains and skill — it's about caring enough to give some attention to your driving. Most people do a darn fine job of it.

Thank you all. Thank you for not killing me. Thank you for compensating for my mistakes on those (thankfully rare) occasions when I'm the inattentive idiot. Many people die on the streets and highways — but the miracle is that we don't lose far more. We save each other's lives every day, when we are careful. We should be grateful every time was successfully reach our destination ? we literally could not do it alone.

Happy Thanksgiving season, my friends and fellow citizens. Let's remember how much we owe to the many people around us who make our civilization possible.

This article originally appeared in The Rhinoceros Times of Greensboro, North Carolina, and is used here by permission.