Inside every older person is a younger person wondering, “What the heck just happened?”

Inside every older country is a younger country asking the same question.

As an anxiously aging baby boomer, on this Thanksgiving I still have much to be thankful for.

Pass the pork.

I can get better, this next year. The country can get better. We just have to figure out the best way.

In this age of supersizing, of love handles, of twice as many plastic surgeons in the U.S. as lawyers, of industrial strength Preparation H and FDA-approved pharmaceuticals, of quantum leaps in gross national ear wax production, gum disease and blood pressure going through the roof, of bouts of constipation and intestinal requirements and 50-somethings spending Thanksgiving afternoon being poster children for Gas-X, I still have a lot to be thankful for.

Take the miracle of eyesight. Even with bifocals, I can see 240,000 miles to the moon, and beyond.

That’s a miracle!

Even though the earth is moving 67,000 miles per second through space, I can hang on and enjoy the ride.

That’s astounding!

I’m also thankful that the 45,000 spiders I share my 3/4 of an acre with seem for the most part peaceable and have an attitude of live and let live.

That the 25 trillion red blood cells in my body seem to be cooperating nicely and haven’t given me more than one chronic illness.

That I can be 65 percent water and not slosh every time I move.

That this year (so far) I have lost none of the $50 billion Americans lose in gambling each year.

That we as a nation can consume 7 billion gallons a year of oil and still have a few drops left for the next year.

The point is, as we get older, as people and as a nation, we get up close and personal with our mortality. We have conflicts with neighbors. We have wars with other countries.

There are things we can do to counteract the planned obsolescence of the human body – and of our nation.

There are things we can do to make peace.

In this age of conspiracy theories sprouting like weeds in a cow pasture, of senators preaching against health care while taking their own government benefits straight to the doctor, of Wall Street bean counters manipulating markets and sinking 401K retirement funds, of the pork capital moving from Iowa to Washington, D.C., we still have a lot to be thankful for.

The America I love is built on a foundation of tolerance, religious freedom and diversity.

Let’s make it our commitment by next Thanksgiving to get ourselves and our nation in better shape than we are today.

Pass the pork and the Gas-X.

Reach the author at jpetersen@lagrandeobserver.com.