THANKSGIVING –2024
This year I, like maybe many of you, found it difficult to find things to be thankful for with Trump and his thugs marauding around the country, trying to destroy our democracy, but after I’d thought about it awhile, I found I had quite a bit to be thankful for:
First of all, on a personal level:
–I’m thankful for modern medicine, especially my new hip, which has made it possible for me to move without pain (mostly) and actually function like a human being again, and I’m VERY thankful for the doctors who found my husband’s heart blockage, which was completely asymptomatic, and put in a stent before he had the heart attack he would almost certainly have had.
–I’m thankful for the Olympics, which came along in my hour of need (right after my hip surgery, when my husband and I ALSO got COVID) and gave us something great to watch while we were recovering–especially the opening ceremonies, the beach volleyball competition, the track and field events, the road bicycle racing, Snoop Dogg, and the silver horse galloping in the middle of the Seine.
–I’m thankful that my family is all well, including our dog and cat–especially the cat–and safe for the moment, which is all anybody can be, and that we can all spend Thanksgiving together.
–I’m thankful for rimadyl and gabapentin, which make it possible for our elderly bulldog to rest comfortably and spend his time blissfully asleep on the couch.
–I’m beyond thankful our cat, who was lost for nearly a month in the middle of winter last year, through several snows and some bitter cold nights, is safely home with us again, spending her time between lying on the fleece blanket on the couch, on the heating pad, in front of the fire, and on our laps.
–I’m thankful for my ever-patient husband and my wonderful, caring, kind, brilliant daughter, two people who give me faith in humanity when it’s otherwise hard to come by.
–I’m thankful for H.L. Mencken (WHERE is he when we need him?), who said, H.L. Mencken: “In this world of sin and sorrow, there is always something to be thankful for. As for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.”
–And I’m thankful for the TV show, TED LASSO, which took our troubled minds off the awful election outcome, made us laugh, and taught us all kinds of lessons, like “Doing the right thing is never the wrong thing,” and “BELIEVE!”
On a broader level, I’m thankful that:
–As Martin Luther King said, “The arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” I think it really helps to sometimes take the long view because the long view is really encouraging (except for that part about the dinosaurs getting wiped out by a meteor.) Slavery used to be worldwide, torture, beheadings, and drawing and quartering were routine, the concept of thinking of anyone other than only your very small area or tribe as human didn’t exist, the average person had no rights whatsoever until VERY recently, and gays and trans people had no rights at all. And even on a shorter timeline, black Americans, including famous baseball players, were treated like garbage when they just wanted a meal or a place to sleep, interracial couples couldn’t marry, gays had to stay in the closet forever, and gay couples couldn’t marry or have children. Progress doesn’t always march forward–it sometimes feels like it’s one step forward, two steps back, but gradually things DO move forward and things DO get better, even though sometimes we can’t see it.
–Reality can’t be manipulated or twisted or ignored or rationalized away or dismissed as a hoax, in spite of what Trump’s people have said about creating their own reality. There’s no such thing. Reality is what it is. Climate change is real, the laws of physics still apply, vaccines work, ivermectin doesn’t, JFK is not coming back to declare Trump king of the world, the Democrats aren’t murdering children in the basements of pizza parlors, and Hitler wasn’t a good guy. And reality has a way of reasserting itself, so a regime based on lies and deceptions and mis- and dis-information is doomed to fail in the end. As Galileo said, after being forced to recant his findings that he could see moons going around Jupiter, that the heavens were not unchanging, and that the earth wasn’t the center of the universe, “Nevertheless, it moves.” And it does, no matter what anybody says.
–Even though lots of people are predicting certain doom with Trump’s re-election (and it certainly looks like it) it’s impossible to tell whether something that happens is a good thing or a bad thing, as witness the classic Chinese parable of the old farmer: A farmer lost his horse and all his friends said, “Oh, that’s terrible,” and the farmer said, “Maybe.” He was right, the horse came home leading several wild horse he’d hooked up with, and all the farmer’s friends said, “That’s wonderful,” and the farmer said, “Maybe.” He was right, because his son tried to ride one of the wild horses, was bucked off, and broke his leg. All the farmers said, “That’s terrible!” and again the farmer said, “Maybe.” And several days later the Chinese army came through the village, impressing all the young men into service and almost certain death in battle, but the farmer’s son couldn’t go because of his broken leg. All of the farmer’s friends said, “That’s wonderful,” and the farmer said, “Maybe…” Seemingly awful events can have unexpectedly good consequences, seeming successes can turn out badly, and irony, in spite of what everybody says, is alive and well.
–Nobody knows what’s going to happen. This is so true. You can game out trend lines and probabilities and historical precedent, all of which can help, but in the end, as Yogi Berra said, “It’s difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.” The Spanish Armada was almost certain to win its sea battle with England–until a storm came along and scattered the fleet in all directions, making them easy pickings. During the D-Day landings, Hitler had taken a sleeping pill and his men were afraid to waken him, so he slept through the critical first hours–and General Rommel, probably the smartest general Hitler had, was in Berlin celebrating his wife’s birthday instead of at his headquarters. During the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon sent a note to one of his generals, telling him where to attack, and if he’d done what the note said, they would have won–but the general couldn’t read his writing, made the wrong guess, sent his men to the wrong place, and the rest is history. Hitler was within two weeks of utterly destroying the RAF and their bases, making it possible for him to march unopposed into London–until two Luftwaffe pilots got lost in the fog and dropped their bombs on what they thought was the target but was actually a London suburb, leading to Churchill’s bombing Berlin, which made Hitler lose his temper and stop his assault on the RAF and begin bombing London.
So just remember, as L. Frank Baum of WIZARD OF OZ fame said: “Never give up. Nobody knows what’s going to happen.”
And finally, don’t feel guilty about enjoying yourself at Thanksgiving. Some people have said they worry that being happy while such terrible things are happening is a sign that they’re not doing everything they can, but that’s just not true. Kindness, being with friends, happiness, and laughter are some of our most important weapons against tyranny, and they also tell tyrants their power is finite, that there are all kinds of things they don’t–and never will–rule over. One of my favorite stories is about Virginia and Leonard Woolf. Virginia was in the garden in the midst of the war when Leonard came to the window and called her in to listen to Hitler, who was about to speak. Virginia refused. “I’m planting iris,” she said, “and they will still be here when Hitler is dead and gone.” She was right. Hitler’s long gone. And if you go to her house, now a museum, you can see the irises she planted.
So plant irises, cook, gather with friends, laugh, love one another–
And have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Connie Willis