What am I thankful for?
We just had a massive, nearly flawlessly executed, clean, peaceful election, in which volunteer poll workers from BOTH parties risked their lives in the middle of a pandemic to honestly administer an election and honestly count the votes.
It is a triumph of democracy.
That is what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving.
Please share widely!
I’m thankful that my oldest daughter and her husband were able to open the Newton Center restaurant they’ve spent the last decade working and planning towards (“Thistle and Leek”). I’m thankful that my wife has, this year, been able to create the professional role for herself that she’s been striving for since 2010.
I’m thankful that at least some of the states are certifying the victory of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, even if not all.
I’m thankful that Black voters across America — and especially in our urban centers — stepped up and did their duty in this election. I’m thankful that the most visible reaction to the racist voter suppression of Donald Trump and his co-conspirators was to redouble, rather than reduce, Black turnout. I’m thankful that my wife was able to vote for the first time, and that all of her candidates won.
I’m thankful that I’m again able to give my grand-daughter the belly raspberries that make her laugh so hard, even if I do catch her sniffles in so doing.
I’m thankful that all of my loved ones and myself have so far been spared the impact of this horrific disease.
For all the talk of becoming a banana republic, so many countries would have failed a long time ago if subjected to the systemic stress we have endured these past four years.
Thankful on a personal level that my wife was able to complete her BSN, that we got our little doggie Leo, that our move to Wakefield was successful, that despite being exposed to the virus on the job (especially hers) we have been healthy so far during this pandemic and so have my aging parents downstairs. Thankful for great parks they kept my body and mind active during this period of isolation.
Thankful for technology that enables remote learning, remote cocktail hour with friends, and remote check ins on my in laws in KY and IL and my wife’s cousins in the Philippines and Spain. Thankful for books, particularly the Vanishing Half and Homegoing which were my favorites I read this year. Thankful for great television shows like the Queens Gambit and the Crown.
Thankful my friends who had kids this year are staying healthy. Grateful when we might have kids in the next year or two it’ll be under a President Biden and not a President Trump. Grateful my goddaughters and any daughters I have will know neither their gender nor their non White background will be a barrier to the highest office in the land thanks to Vice President Elect Kamala Harris.
Grateful for students past and present who voted, who marched, and who are showing us the future.
Not to be the person who farts in church as I’m certainly thankful for the many wonderful things life has given me…and we need to cherish them, as life gives us challenges as well.
But in terms being grateful for what does appear* to be a Triumph of Democracy, I can only say I’m relieved that the foundation held. But the damage from this ongoing attack (I listened to Trump unhinged on Fox yesterday) has certainly weakened an already old foundation and without major repairs, I fear it is only a matter of time before the 230 year experiment ends.
*The cockroach is still President and until he is not, democracy is not safe.
Amen and bravo.
“Major repairs” is an understatement. To stay with your construction analogy, I suspect it’s time to put heavy beams under the entire structure, jack it up about a foot, move the whole thing off the original foundation, and rebuild said foundation using rebar and reinforced concrete. Then reverse the process. I’ve watched this done to several large buildings — it’s possible and VERY tedious. Also very expensive.
I think we need to rethink what the First Amendment means in the context of the web as it currently exists. I think we need to re-examine the consequences of removing the Fairness Doctrine and Equal Time Rule. We desperately need a find way to remove a compromised executive from the Oval Office. We desperately need to find a way to block the DoJ from being politicized as it has been during the Donald Trump administration. We must somehow rebuild a federal judiciary actually grounded on the rule of law.
I think we need to make it VERY VERY clear that this administration must NOT be allowed to sweep the abuses and crimes of the past four years under the rug.