Humanist thanksgiving prayer

I was always asked to do the praying bit at Thanksgiving dinner, because once upon a time I was 'the religious one'.  Truthfully, I alwasy stumbled over the G-word.  A theist friend said 'you atheist have nothing to be thankful to' - and I thought 'the hell I don't'.  So here is my shot at a little prayer.  Modify and use as you like.  It is original.

Thanksgiving

We give thanks for the farmers and other workers who brought this food to our table, and to Mother Earth for the abundance we enjoy.

We give thanks to the men and women who worked hard toward our ideal of a fair society, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and who make possible the freedoms we enjoy today.

We give thanks to the unheard, who because they have the least possessions, have the smallest voice.

We give thanks for our health, for the people who work tirelessly to keep our air, food and water clean, and to the men and women who devote their lives to healing.

We thank those who still hold a vision of a just society: where those who want have a chance to, one day, want less, and those with plenty do what they can to uplift those with little.

We give thanks to the people of science who work to broaden our understanding of the workings of our world, and to the people of letters and culture who enrich and deepen our lives.

We give thanks for families, for our own, for the closeness and love we feel today, and to those who went before, paving the way, and preparing the soil for the prosperity of those we love today.

Today we give special remembrance and thanks to the men and women who leave to fight wars they may not understand and to their families who have to reconcile their loss with the senselessness.

Finally, we give thank for the privilege it is to be human – for the minds that allow us to exploit or be caretakers of our world and to the growing wisdom to make that choice well.

Paul Gibbons