Most people spent Thanksgiving Day with friends and family sharing a big meal. Many here in Powell went to the Community Thanksgiving Dinner, a unique display of giving in our little town.

The holiday tradition is founded on being thankful for the things we have and recognizing that not everyone is so fortunate. Hopefully, we all took time to acknowledge the blessings in our lives. There is a lot to be thankful for in this modern world, and the immense blessings we enjoy often escape our notice.

Pumpkin pie may not seem like the kind of thing to specifically give thanks for on the holiday, but the nutmeg that we spice the pumpkin filling with was so valuable that wars were fought over it. Today, it’s a relatively inexpensive item among dozens of spices that can be purchased at the grocery store. Everyday people today enjoy many riches that were once the pleasures of only the very wealthy.

Besides the Black Friday shopping sprees, today people will be enjoying the tradition of Thanksgiving leftovers. Few are going to open their refrigerators and pause to give a moment of thanks for the appliance. Yet, just 90 years ago, these wonderful devices were so expensive that only about 10 percent of homes had one. Today, only about 2 percent do not.

The refrigerator is not just a convenience that ensures we have a huge pile of leftovers to extend the Thanksgiving holiday (and our waistlines). It’s allowed us to reduce food waste, which in turn has increased our food supply. This is one of the reasons fewer people starve to death today.

In the 1920s, famine globally killed 82.1 people per 100,000 population. From 2010 to 2016, the rate was 0.5 per 100,000.

By so many measures people are living longer, healthier lives than they ever have. In 1800, over 40 percent of all children died before the age of 5. By 2017, that number had fallen to near 4 percent. In the United States, that figure is less than 0.7 percent.

For those Americans who did live past the age of 5 in 1800, they’d have only, on average, another 34 years to look forward to. Today, the average American lives to nearly 79 years.

Fewer people than ever are living in extreme poverty, which has seen a precipitous decline in the past three decades. In 1990, 36 percent of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty, defined by the World Bank as living on less than $1.90 per day in today’s dollars. By 2015, less than 10 percent of the world’s population were living at that level.

Of course, none of these wonderful developments for which we should all be thankful is meant to diminish our sense of charity towards those less fortunate. People living on $5 per day are not living in extreme poverty by the World Bank’s definition, but they’re still clearly in need.

Being thankful for this modern world is recognizing no generation before us has been able to enjoy so much. And so, we’re in a better position than ever to help those who remain in need.