Lovin' and Thankin' the Universe, and Its Gravity, On Thanksgiving

I AINT REALLY TOO SURE that the human mind can comprehend the universe, or who or what creates it, but I like to give thanks for it. Somehow it feels appropriate and good. Thus, thanksgiving turns out to be just about my favorite holiday. Turkey, why not? All traditions are arbitrary; many of us liberals only want to get rid of some of the more odious, stupid, or destructive traditions, like primitive religion and violence - but turkey dinner on Thanksgiving seems harmless enough. All fun, healthy, non destructive traditions are welcome to linger. By the time we have five hundred million people in America and twelve billion on Earth, we may have become vegetarians, by necessity. But for now, let's gobble turkey. We don't really seem to have any inherent "right to exist", and our existence seems anything but inevitable; our existence seems more like a choice, by nature, or by God, (your choice), and it may be that the two terms, nature and God, are ultimately synonymous. Thus gratitude, even in a purely materialistic, scientific framework, somehow seems relevant and appropriate. It is not necessary to regard Thanksgiving as a religious holiday. it can be considered a logical response to a miracle, the miracle of existence. suppose, for example, that the numerical expression for the force of gravity is, say, 3.1415. The value of pi, symbolizing the strength of the force of gravity. Whether you very slightly increase the value, say, to 3.1416, or slightly decrease it, say, to 3.1414, you destroy the universe. Gravity, it turns out, at its actual, measuring strength, makes the universe we know and live in and love - possible. A wee bit less gravity, the cosmos falls apart, everything goes flying off into endless space. A teeny tiny increase in the strength of gravity, and the entire universe collapses into one pile of matter, too dense to harbor life. The universe, it seems , is perfectly designed for us, and who knows what other forms of life. The universe works, like a machine, carefully planned and designed. However that happened, I appreciate it.