November is a month of gratitude. With holidays like Veterans’ Day and Thanksgiving, it’s hard not to think of all the good things we have in our lives, take a step back, and truly appreciate how blessed our lives are.

Here at the Skyline View, we’d like to take a moment to reflect on the importance of both of these holidays and what we can do as students to be more conscious of their social significance and the meaning they hold in our community.

Many of us take Veterans’ Day as an excuse to laze around, sleep in or go to parties, but it’s important to remember and appreciate why we get the day off in the first place: the courageous individuals who have fought and continue to fight to protect our country.

For decades, America’s young men and women in uniform are willingly sent to countries on the other side of the world to fight and in many cases die in order to preserve the freedoms that we so often take for granted.

Even now, the American military is still locked in what has become a decade-long war fighting terrorism in Afghanistan, trying to root out Islamic militant groups and bring some sort of stability to the troubled nation.

Because of their great sacrifice, our country’s veterans deserve that we at least take one moment of our day to truly appreciate the sacrifices they’ve made.

This ties in to the other aforementioned holiday—Thanksgiving.

One of the most tragic things about war is the loss of family members, and the Thanksgiving holiday exists in part that we might appreciate all the love and support that we receive from our families.

The origins of the Thanksgiving tradition are rooted in a celebratory feast, which was shared by the early American settlers and Native Americans.

Thanksgiving isn’t simply about getting together with the people we love to share a large meal with. It’s about appreciating everything we have.

When other countries are suffering so much, we have it relatively easy here in the United States, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t people in the States suffering from poverty, homelessness or starvation.

In fact, there are many people in the local Bay Area communities who need our help and are counting on the generosity of others who are more fortunate than them.

That’s why we want to ask that this year, as you’re sitting down with your family, carving your turkey and drowning your mashed potatoes in gravy, think about what you can do to pay it forward.

There are many easy ways to give back to the community, even right here at Skyline! Starting Monday, Nov. 14, you’ll be seeing barrels for the annual Canned Food Drive. The food drive will run until Friday, Nov. 18. All you have to do is drop some cans into a barrel or donate some cash to help someone.

There are also various food kitchens and pantries right here in the Bay Area that give aid to those who don’t have families to go home to or who simply can’t pay to feed the families they have.

You can also visit sites like http://bayareahunger.org/donate.html to find local food banks closest to you and ways to help someone in hunger.

Donating and volunteering are great ways to show your appreciation for the good things in your life. Truly realizing and being thankful for the abundance of good in your life should make you think about what it would be like not to have such things. That may make you want to make a change.

Despite the reasons behind why someone may be suffering, is it really so difficult to lend a helping hand at least once a year?