The crew members of Galahad come from many nations on Earth, so not everyone was raised with the tradition of Thanksgiving. But since we’ve chosen to follow the standard Earth calendar during our journey, some of us can’t help but note the arrival of the American holiday. I spent some time last night thinking about the concept of giving thanks.

I guess most of us automatically assume that we can only be grateful when things go well. We’re all aboard this ship because of a series of tragic events, but even so it caused me to re-think the idea of giving thanks. It would be easy, I guess, to be cynical and angry about the curse of Comet Bhaktul, about what it did to our civilization, and about how it took dad’s life.

I’m sad, of course, but at the same time I have to be thankful for so many things. Human life on Earth was doomed, but so many people spent their final days working hard to make sure that we have a chance to live. I’m also grateful for my fellow crew members, and for their dedication to this mission. And I’m grateful for everything I’ve learned about myself over the past two years.

I think more than anything, though, I’m thankful for everything I learned from dad. I’m grateful for the time he spent with me. He even submitted my name to the people putting the Galahad mission together - without me knowing about it - and I’ll always be thankful to him for that.

Things don’t always work out the way we want them, and yet we’d be foolish to not find things to be thankful for. This Thanksgiving I’m aware of it more than ever.

(Your turn, Galahad fans. You don’t have to celebrate an official holiday like Thanksgiving to appreciate many things in your life. Can you think of how difficult times might also somehow provide reasons to be grateful? Have you ever set aside time to simply give thanks? Consider Triana’s observations, and see how they apply in your own life.)

The thought came to me yesterday as I sat in the auditorium, puzzling out a math problem. The same thought stuck with me throughout the rest of the day. At first it was slightly depressing, but now I see it almost as a gift. Essentially it comes down to this: there is so much that we don’t know.

It seems overly simple - and maybe it is - but yet I began to look at it from several different perspectives. First, as an individual, it can be a bit overwhelming to consider how little we truly know when compared to the infinite amount of information and knowledge that exists in the universe. During my school days in my previous life on Earth, throughout my training for this mission, then the extensive education I’ve received aboard Galahad…it seems like I’ve learned so much. But really, we can never even scratch the surface.

Then I realized that it’s not even about the total amount of information that we store; it’s more about the hunger to learn, and how well we apply what we do learn.

The interesting thing is, as I thought about this I also began to understand that this applies to all of us, as a community or a species. There’s an unspoken collective agreement within a community of people that we will each contribute our knowledge to make life better for all of us as a whole. We’re specialists, in a way, each agreeing to supply the know-how for particular tasks.

With that in mind, I also realized that the most successful civilizations likely have this same collective hunger to learn. Species that thrive on growing and learning are probably the ones that move forward. In the early days of space flight, there were some who questioned our path to the stars, while others rolled up their sleeves and pushed the boundaries of science ever outward. The work from these champions of knowledge benefited all in some form or another, and yet theirs was a thankless job. Somehow I think they were okay with that; their reward didn’t come in the form of verbal appreciation from others, but rather in the satisfaction they felt.

There is so much we don’t know. As individuals we are challenged to peck away, to continue to learn, which in turn helps us to grow. As a community we are rewarded with results from our collective education. My frame of mind has switched from being depressed, to being thrilled to know that this challenge exists. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

(Okay, Galahad fans, what do you think? Have you ever looked at your education as a gift, regardless of your age or place in life? Do you agree with Triana about a civilization’s collective desire to learn? Could it be one of the reasons why some civilizations moved forward while others disappeared? Where do you see that collective desire today? If you’d like to share your thoughts, please feel free to post them here. And be sure to tell your friends about Club Galahad!)