The smell of freshly cooked turkey, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie is wafting from the kitchen. The Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions are playing Thanksgiving football. Before enjoying a meal with family, you take a seat in the living room to watch the Cowboys lose yet another late-season game.

Unfortunately, your son-in-law forgot to put on deodorant, adding to the aroma filling the room.

The doorbell rings, announcing the arrival of your brother and his wife. Each is carrying a platter of Thanksgiving food.

“Great,” you think. “What are we going to do with all this food? We can’t possibly finish all of it.”

It’s quickly becoming dinner time and your stomach is roaring like an angry lion. Not to worry, you’ll soon have a smorgasbord of food in front of you. You’ll probably eat enough to feed five starving children, but many in our area won’t have the same experience.

While you are indulging in a well-cooked meal, thousands of others in our city are more concerned about simply surviving winter. Instead of gathering around a mahogany table, equivalent to a month’s salary at minimum wage, others in our city are huddled around a card table, in a house that’s beginning to collapse. For them, hunger is a part of everyday life.

Your stomach is grumbling because you haven’t eaten in several hours. Other’s stomachs grumble because they haven’t eaten in several days.

Hunger in our city is not as rare as we would like to believe. Our city is plagued by poverty. Official statistics say the poverty rate is 40 percent.

What about those just above the poverty rate? It’s impossible to afford a full Thanksgiving meal on a meager salary. They likely have a similar Thanksgiving experience.

In celebrating holidays, we often like to focus on the material manifestations of happiness. It’s not just Selma. During Thanksgiving, the entire nation is more concerned with gluttony than spending time with family. And during Christmas, we focus on making our relatives happy with lavish gifts.

We know what the holidays are about — being with family — but how often do we actually take the time to appreciate our family’s presence? A true appreciation is far too rare.

It’s fun to share a hearty meal and watch football with family during Thanksgiving, but it’s also important to realize that many in our community aren’t afforded the same opportunity. Some families are missing a brother or a father because he is spending time in a county jail. Others simply don’t have the money to make a cross-country trek to visit relatives.

When you have time to spend with relatives, be truly appreciative. Forget about the work that awaits you after the holidays.

Be grateful that you have a hearty meal to eat and clean water to drink. Your family may have traveled hundreds of miles to see you, yet another thing to be grateful for.

Friends come and go, but your family will never change. So this Thanksgiving remember what the holiday is about. Be thankful for each and every gift you’ve been given.