Jooho Lee: Food, family, and faith

After every football practice, my high school coach Jon Dimalante would have us circle around him and get down on one knee. With his shirt billowing in the cool autumn breeze, he would squint his eyes in the setting sun, made even more beautiful by the smog-filled Los Angeles skyline, and instruct us to be thankful for the three F's in our lives -- football, family and friends, and faith.

We were taught to be thankful for these things every afternoon, but I have a feeling that amidst all the turkey and the stuffing, some of us may have forgotten to give thanks for the things that are meaningful to us this past Thanksgiving weekend.

So before the weather gets too cold and before classes end this semester, I would like to write about my three F's.

The F that occupies the smallest part of my heart is football. Nevertheless, I am still absolutely thankful for it.

Football -- what a great game! It's fun to play outdoors, and it's also the only sport I enjoy playing as a video game. More importantly, it's great to watch, and on Thanksgiving, there's nothing better than watching the NFL after stuffing yourself silly with food.

I don't know why football is such a popular sport. Perhaps the violence on the football field reminds us of the peace we have on this day. For example, our gridiron heroes played a role in restoring a shaken American sentiment after last year's terrorist attacks.

Personally, I think I like football on Thanksgiving because some of those players remind me that even after such a gluttonous meal, there are still people in the world who outweigh me.

However, what would Thanksgiving be without family and friends? Football comes in a distant third behind my second F.

Family is important enough for us West Coasters to pay ridiculously high prices and endure flights that last over four hours just to see them for a day or two, even though we will go home and see them again after a couple of weeks.

My family means the world to me. Both of my parents have sacrificed their careers for our family to remain intact in the United States. Their love for each other, my brother and me is an inspiration and a continual force in my life. Oh, and my younger brother is cool, too.

Our friends are our families away from home. Many times, they end up becoming family. They make the good times even better and the bad times a little bit more bearable. Many of us may have preferred to spend Thanksgiving with them rather than make the long trek back home.

My friends have defined my Penn experience. I love them very much.

Needless to say, I am truly thankful for my family and my friends.

Yet there is something for which I am even more thankful than my family and friends. I am most thankful for what brings me to a state of thanksgiving -- my faith.

Like the pilgrims who supposedly gave thanks to God many centuries ago for guiding them across treacherous waters and a tumultuous year of settling in the New World, I thank God for guiding me across the years I did not know him, blessing my quest for truth and love and bringing me safely to a new place, full of grace and mercy.

I thank him for the tough times I spent settling into my faith amidst a difficult environment and for allowing me to successfully grow in my loving relationship with him.

Most importantly, I thank him for Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to take the blame for my sins and overcame death in resurrection so that I can have eternal life. I thank him that I can have an intimate relationship with God every day through Christ.

I thank God for my blessed life. I thank him for football, my family and my faith.

I hope you took time to count your blessings this past Thanksgiving weekend. I sure did.

Jooho Lee is a junior History and Political Science major from Los Angeles, Calif.

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