I’ve had trouble coming up with something to be thankful for today. There seems to be a wide variety of subjects to choose from, but most are patently false and only seem ripe for praise because my state of mind is upbeat (relatively) as of late. A couple are too private to share here, which saddens me. So, today’s forced appreciation is for something that I will most likely deny many times in the future: my brain. Flawed though it may be, it has several admirable qualities that I choose to ignore.

I am by no means a genius, but my intelligence is above average. I am by no means a brilliant artist, but I am moderately creative and have some artistic talents. I am able to read and digest metaphoric literature. I am able to analyze myself (almost to a fault) and understand why I do things that I do. I am able to think rationally. I use proper grammar and spelling. I can sometimes be witty. When I try, I can come up with elegant solutions to problems. I’m not an inquisitive person by nature, but when something interests me, I have no trouble learning all about it. I’m just really lazy, so that rarely happens.

There are plenty of things in my brain that I’d rather be apart from: my social anxiety, my insatiable appetite for guilt, my apathy… but I’m thankful for this brain because I know many other brains which make life unpleasant. Mine could be racist, sexist, abrasive, epileptic, political, fascist, domineering, not clever, arrogant, cold, sex-crazed, paedophilic, or lacking a long term memory.

It is, however, timid, self-abasing, self-defeating, easily annoyed, judgmental to a ridiculous degree (which I’ve sort of made peace with), lazy, way too analytical, poor in stressful situations, masochistic, afraid of other humans, and it tends to blurt out inappropriate things when backed into a corner. “We share fluids.”

It isn’t perfect. It probably isn’t even desirable to other humans. But it could be far worse, and most of it’s problems could be easily overcome if I were inclined to try.

So, thank you, DNA and condition during the first 8 years of my life, for making me who I am.

Nine out of ten zombies agree!