Thanksgiving isn’t until next Thursday, but in a way, it’s already here.

Although we may have to wait nearly a week for family gatherings, turkey carvings and an afternoon of football, a profound sense of thanks-giving should be a part of every day.

If the world is really going to come to an end on Dec. 21, 2012, then people better start setting more short-term goals.

Even though NASA addressed many of the reasons for why the world will not end in 2012 on their official Web site, skeptics will believe what they want. In this case, some people are choosing to believe that the Earth was given an expiration date, like a gallon of milk, by the Mayan civilization.

With college graduation nearing for us all, the “next step” is something we all have to think about sooner or later.

When we enter the job market, we will be the new blood in many of today’s industries from which our parents are retiring. The bad news is we won’t live up to them. And perhaps this is their fault as much as it ours.

From the dollar bill to the National Anthem, Christianity has always had a dangerous clandestine influence on the decisions of U.S. law makers, politicians and voters – despite the efforts of the Constitution to separate church from state.

However, last week, the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington tried to make its influence on the District of Columbia as overt as possible.