Thanksgiving 2008

This year, I expect that many of us look down the road to Thanksgiving with a somewhat baleful expression.  It has been a year unlike any other I can remember, and to concentrate on this seasonal event takes a good deal of concentration:  the election, the state of our country's financial system, the widely varying price of oil, the inflation which we see in the daily costs of our lives, and the fear that our very personal fiscal underpinnings are far weaker than we ever would have thought - well, it really is enough to drive a person crazy.

I thought that getting myself into a thankful attitude might be a little tricky, until I saw Islay the black scotty jump up on the sofa, find her way next to K's lap, lie down, and put her head on top of K's thigh.  It was an off-pawed gesture, perfectly natural, but the result was that Thanksgiving took on new meaning in an instant.

For the last couple of years, both these creatures have, in their own ways, been sanding down my rough spots after nearly half-a-century of living by myself.  Other scotties in previous years were wonderful companions but were less effective as teachers.

K has always had a clear idea of what matters in life, and while I am (and probably always will be) a work in progress, she has helped open my eyes in a number of important ways, even though I have refused to hand over the tv remote and will continue to do so.

This morning we drank coffee in the living room and watched the last great gathering of the Canada geese swimming in the last remnant of open water on the lake.  Most of them will be off to their southern migration soon, and we shall miss their honking enthusiasm.  Then a pileated woodpecker - one of the big ones - climbed up an oak tree no more than fifty feet away.  Winter is but a step away, yet there is still much to savor.

The larger issues remain, of course, but good people are going to do their best to resolve them, and I hope we shall be asked to participate in that process.  Notwithstanding those troubles, there is much for us to appreciate-that is,  if we can be "thinkful" about being thankful.

My Goodness....

My mother was always very proud of the first presidential ballot she cast in 1932 - for Norman Thomas, the Socialist candidate for President. The first election in which I participated was in 1960, and I cast my first vote for John F. Kennedy. As one result, one of my uncles stopped talking to me for several years, and given his political views, I did not consider that much of a loss.

A great many young people cast their first ballot yesterday, and it had an impact; they will never forget the experience and the result. Their children will grow appreciatively tired of the story but will remember it.

We woke up this morning, a little groggy, but with something of a sunrise streaming in through the windows. And we knew in our brains and in our hearts that something important happened in and to America yesterday.

It doesn't matter which side we were on - it really doesn't. What does matter is that we try to slip past the post-mortem clichés of election analysis and understand that a great many Americans stepped into the voting booth and voted for an African-American for the highest political office in our land.

There seemed to be few problems with the process of voting and counting; local governments were better prepared than they had been last time, and the only significant demonstrations were celebrations of joy in Chicago, New York, and in front of the White House in Washington. Joy and lots of tears because another glass ceiling had been broken.

America grew up yesterday. In the face of economic chaos, two unpopular wars, foreign relationships in tatters, civil rights diminished, and an increasing gulf between rich and poor, voters made a decision to vote for the man who happened not to be "white." For a great many of us, that choice could not have been easy, but the choice was made.

Politicians who routinely consider the the citizenry as "ill-informed," "stupid," or "inattentive" must now do a recalculation, as must countries which look at the United States as a monochrome monolith.

We are different today, perhaps better, but certainly different.

It's a start, and that's good enough for me.