People who lost homes are thankful they are alive and still have their loved ones.

People who lost loved ones…well, I don’t know what they are thankful for. Maybe nothing. If they do find something to be thankful for, it’s probably that friends and family are rallying around them in their loss.

I had planned to write my November e-letter about giving thanks, but Hurricane Sandy put a whole new perspective on the topic.

I was going to write about thanking not only donors and volunteers – which you should do early and often – but also employees, clients or customers, vendors, and pretty much anybody with whom your organization regularly interacts.

I still want to write about thanking people.

But now I’m thanking first responders and the National Guard.

I’m thanking power company employees. They work not only for New Jersey power companies but for ones from Florida and Michigan and Iowa and who knows where. (Everyone who has gotten power back after days in the cold dark has had to resist the impulse to run out and hug a lineman.)

I’m thanking the marathoners who didn’t get to run but stayed to volunteer. I’m thanking the 40-odd Mennonites who are camping in sleeping bags at a church down the shore so they can help with cleanup. I’m thanking the people who hung power strips out their windows so strangers without electricity could charge their phones.

I’m thanking my friends for being alive.

Don’t get me wrong, thankfulness isn’t the only proper response to this disaster. Sorrow, anger, worry, and compassion rank right up there. (And, apparently, a sense of civic duty. I never saw so many people at my polling place as I did today.)

I just know that people who can find some way to be thankful in the midst of their sorrow or anger or worry seem to be happier and saner than those who can’t.

Today, I’m working on being one of the thankful ones.

And my wish for you is that you can be one of them, too.

What are you thankful for today?