The last few years haven’t been the easiest for Minnesotans.   During the Great Recession, Minnesota lost about 150,000 jobs, including about one quarter of all construction jobs.  We’re now trending in the right direction, but a lot of Minnesotans have been hurting for a long time.

But it’s Thanksgiving, so it’s time to put it all in perspective and focus on what we do have.

One thing that I feel thankful about is this:  Of all the places I could have ended up on the planet, I ended up in the United States, and specifically Minnesota.  If I had lived my life in Somalia, Syria, Afghanistan or any Third World or war torn nation, life would be obviously very different.

How lucky am I to be living in Minnesota?  Well, you have nothing in life wtihout your health, and I live in a state with the best medical care and health in the nation.  Education opens the doors to prosperity and fulfillment, and the Minnesota schools we collectively fund produce the best college entrance scores in the nation.  Minnesota is in the top five for quality of life, and, it looks pretty good for my kids and grandkids too, because Minnesota is projected to be the second best place to live in 2032.

Rankings are blunt measures, and Minnesota has plenty of shortcomings — the education achievement gap, health disparities, and too many stuck in poverty, to name but a few.  But things could be much worse.

Then there is prosperity.  When it comes to wealth, those of us fortunate enough to have landed in Minnesota effectively won the Global Lottery.    Minnesota’s median income is  $29,582 per year.  According to Global Rich List, Mr. or Ms. Median Minnesotan are better off than about 93% of the world’s citizens.  Average Minnesotans are the envy of the world.

And if you are fortunate enough to have an income above the mean?   Well, you can punch your income into this calculator, and literally count your blessings.

Someone once said, “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”  Most of us feel gratitude from time to time, but Thanksgiving is the day when we  are encouraged to give voice to it.  So as someone who writes a lot about all that is wrong with Minnesota, let me take this opportunity to say how fortunate I feel to be living in one of the very best spots on the planet.

– Loveland