I'm Thankful for The Future

norman rockwell’s “freedom of speech” painting—now practically meme-fied—comes from his four freedoms series, which also includes the iconic “freedom from want.”

each thanksgiving, we seem to take for granted the things past generations held sacred. that’s not entirely bad. it’s a sign of progress—economic, technological, and social—that we get to enjoy without constantly reflecting on it.

as a kid, when my family went around the table sharing what we were thankful for, the answers were predictable: family, health, safety, shelter. i’d usually throw in something goofy like the internet, spaceships, bitcoin, computers, or halo 3.

now, i feel the weight of gratitude for all those foundational blessings—family, peace, and a degree of prosperity i recognize i didn’t earn but simply inherited.

but i’m also wildly thankful to be alive now. this moment in history is unmatched: technological progress accelerating, new frontiers in ai and space, whispers of post-scarcity just over the horizon. it feels like we’re living in the prologue of humanity’s greatest sci-fi epic.

i’m thankful for friends who are building, creating, and succeeding in their own ways—incrementally nudging the world toward something better and reaping the rewards of that work.

and i’m thankful for this strange corner of the internet where people share not just my optimism for the future, but a belief in the tools and ideas that will take us there.