"A dream of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property, widely distributed; a dream of a land where men will not take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few." – Dr. Martin Luther King

It's incredible how so many can look across their street and tell themselves that they are better off than the person living next door.

Isolation.

Isolation of mind.

Isolation of action.

Isolation of opportunity.

Opportunity comes in two equal but distinct ways.

First, is there an opportunity?

Is there a possibility of employment in my community?

Will I be hired?

Is there a chance for a better-paying job that will give you a better life?

A happier life?

This is best illustrated by what used to be the box standard economic reality across America, and that is the one-industry town.

Back in the day, one such town was Loudonville, Ohio, where the Flxible Bus Company was the dominant industry.

All across the Midwest, many of the towns had just one industry.

The expectation was created generation after generation that the lowest bar of employment was the local factory job.

But when those jobs were taken out of America by the owners and boards of those companies, places like Loudonville were left holding an empty economic bag.

The story has been repeated in every corner of our Nation.

From the shoe factories in New England to the cotton mills of the South to the steel and rubber industries of the Great Lakes to the plane manufacturing industry of the West.

There are just too many "used-to-be" places of opportunity that are now gone forever.

Now our manufacturing corridors are empty.

Too many of our communities no longer have a wealth of opportunity.

It all was stolen like a thief in the night by an all too human evil.

Greed.

The second type of opportunity is one of personal discovery.

It depends upon the individual to ask themselves a simple but one of the most challenging questions one has to ask oneself eventually.

What do I want to do with my life?

When you live in the city, I currently reside in Los Angeles, there is an abundance of choices.

Living here, you can choose to be just about anything you want to be.

You can be an executive, work as a manager at a fast-food service and make six figures, be a nurse or a lawyer, paint houses, or paint landscapes on an artist's canvas.

The opportunity to do what you see, what you imagine, has virtually no limits.

However, back in Ohio, down around the southern border with Kentucky, I'm very familiar with the town of McArthur.

A lot of great people live down around there, but the local jobs are few.

You need enough money to put gas in your car and drive up towards Columbus or over towards Athens and Parkersburg to have a few more opportunities.

Growing up in a place devoid of choice naturally limits your choices.

It's not that you don't realize that there are doctors, nurses, lawyers, and astronauts out in the world making a living.

It's just not in the crayon box of choices when the biggest employers in your town are the Dollar Store and Taco Bell.

Opportunity is a two-way street.

There has to be the opportunity to take hold of it, but it also has to be in the psychology that says I have a choice; I can do it.

All anyone asks is for the opportunity to succeed.

But we Americans have and continue to have a consistent urge to limit each other's opportunities.

We continue to limit access to opportunities for racial and identity minority communities.

That limit is called prejudice.

This prejudice extends to everyone who is not white.

Women also bear the prejudice of the limitation of opportunity, regardless of race.

As Dr. King says, there are too many men out there willing to take from the many to give to the few.

Today is Thanksgiving 2019.

The sentiment and the visceral acid thrown about today by the conservative party in this Nation makes it more like 1919.

These few men who have profited from the selling of the American dream are taking the opportunity to capitalize on the economic nightmare that they created.

The real loss and abandonment that so many of their victims feel, where opportunity no longer exists, these economic vultures have taken hold of their hearts and minds.

It is an evil we stand against this Thanksgiving, where men pit men against each other, falsely blaming the other as stealing their rightful hope.

Their economic future.

When light casts its brilliance, darkness rushes to the corners.

Yet from within that darkest of nights, a single candle can push back the despair and restore hope.

The challenge of this Thanksgiving has been faced by many before us.

Generation after generation is called to keep up the good fight.

As the night draws near and the grinding teeth of despair cry out, it is up to each of us to hold our light up high and push back against the darkness.

We can seize the opportunity to build a better world.

Light your candle, be thankful for what you have, and help share the wealth of this life with all.

Peace.

Daniel J Frey aka Toby