Five Reasons To Be Thankful You Live In the United States

America's first Thanksgiving was celebrated 392 years ago near Massachusetts Bay. The festival, organized in 1621 by colonial Governor William Bradford, honored the successful harvest of the corn crop by the Pilgrims.  The invitation list included the colony's Native American allies.

The historic banquet's menu remains lost in the mists of time, but at least one chronicler reports meat dishes included fowl and deer, but not likely turkey.  Historians also doubt pumpkin pie was served at the first feast because of a lack of sugar.

That is a far cry from the the sumptuous spreads that will be enjoyed in dining rooms across America this week. But one truth remains the same.  Americans, then and now, have many reasons to be grateful for their country.

Here are just five reasons to be thankful you live in the United States of America today:

1.  The U.S. is still the country where most people want to live.  A recent survey conducted by Gallup found that 150 million people would like to leave their country and immigrate to the U.S.  Four times as many people surveyed chose the U.S. over the second ranked nation, the United Kingdom. American continually ranks number one in the annual poll.  There are 40 million immigrants living in the country and this figure does not include those here illegally.

2.  Americans are the most generous people in the world.  Individuals doled out $217.79 billion dollars to charities last year, according to Internal Revenue Service data published by The Urban Institute.  These numbers do not include the billions given by two-thirds of tax filers who do not itemize their deductions.  Donations by individuals have risen 38 percent since 2009, despite the recession.

3.  Americans are the most inventive people in the world.  There were 253,155 new patents issued for inventions in the United States in 2012, the highest annual number on record.  It represents a 13 percent increase over the previous year.  Seventeen U.S.-based firms rank in the top 50 worldwide companies issued patents and IBM was the business leader in 2012, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

4. The U.S. offers more opportunities for people to start their own business.  There are 23 million small businesses in the country, which provide 55 percent of all the available jobs, according to the Brookings Institute.  Small  firms, those with one to 49 employees, make up nearly 90 percent of all businesses in the U.S.  The number of small businesses has increased 49 percent since 1982, far outpacing growth in large firms.

5.  The U.S. spends more per capita on health care than any other nation. The World Health Organization estimates the the country spends $7,960 per person on health care, the highest figure in the world.  As a percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), health care spending represents 17.6 percent of expenditures, earning the U.S. the top spot on that measure.  The U.S. also has some of the world's best health care facilities, including two of the top three cancer treatment centers in the world, according to Healthcare Global.

Those of us blessed to call the United States of America home have many more reasons to feel indebted to our country.  The list is almost endless.  But the best reason of all is that we live in a free country. Let us take time today to thank God for his divine guidance and continuing protection for these United States.