Just look around, watch the television, read the newspaper, and what do you see?  Seems like very few reasons to be thankful.  School and workplace shootings, the political scene is as nasty as I ever remember in my 70 years on earth.  Climate change is threatening the future of our children, and the environmental controls have been set back 50 years as the oceans continue to rise, and the air and water quality are getting worse.

Well, it’s enough to make you want to crawl under a rock.  But wait, we live in America, the land of hope and opportunity.  You must believe that things will get better, that the world will be a better place and that people will again enjoy the existence we all want and hope for ourselves and future generations.

Looking closer to our day-to-day work efforts, we see the FDA is wrestling with many serious issues with substantial public health impact like vaping, the opioid crisis, drug costs (yes, I said drug costs, even though that is not their mandate), and a host of foreign and domestic inspection issues that must be resolved to help ensure the safety of our nations drug supply.  But history tells use that problems can be solved.  History gives us hope not to repeat the same mistakes (a different take on an oft quoted saying).  At this time of year when we all give thanks and get together with family and friends, let us look for the common ground to accomplish our goals to move our industry and our country forward.  Let us set aside our differences and look for common ground and solutions to our problems.

We all share in this world and should give thanks for what we have and help others that don’t.  Do something nice for someone each day and the world will be a better place.  Pay it forward (so to speak). We at Lachman Consultants wish you and your family a happy Thanksgiving, and to all of our clients, readers, colleagues, and their families and friends, even if you do not celebrate this holiday, we wish you all health, prosperity, success and happiness.  Enjoy!