Every year in late November my American friends are quite excited because one of the most important holidays of the year, Thanksgiving, is approaching. Since only the US and Canada have Thanksgiving it doesn't mean much to someone like me who comes from Britain. However, I think it is an interesting festival because it remembers the help the early American settlers were given by Native Americans and in this sense it is unique.

It will be a great idea for other countries to also have a 'Thanksgiving Day'. This will be a day when we should stop and consider some of the people who have helped us in our daily life. I'm not really thinking of good friends and relatives as those are people we would already thank, I was thinking more of people who have helped us but who we don't know very well and hadn't really thanked properly.

Although, we often think that 'sorry' is the hardest word to say, actually it seems that saying 'thank you' is not so easy as well. For example, a couple of times a week I catch the school bus and I really appreciate the driver getting us there safely and on time but none of the other passengers ever says thank you when getting off and so I never said thank you either. Like this example there are so many people we take for granted and who we never quite managed to thank even though we meant to.

Having lived in Hangzhou for several years there are so many kind-hearted people who have helped me and who have done so unconditionally, without expecting anything in return. Sometimes we forget to say thanks and sometimes we feel embarrassed to say thanks to certain people we don't know well. Therefore, if we had an 'International Thanksgiving Day' it would give us a good reason to show our gratitude to people we hadn't thanked before. This would also help to create a more harmonious society.

Personally, I want to mention Mr Xu the repairman who has fixed so many problems in my flat; the lady at the fruit stall who tells me which fruit is best and lets me try different fruit for free, as well, the neighbor who plants flowers in the little garden outside our apartment building. To all of you I just want to say two words 'Thank You!'

By Arthur J (from Britain)