Giving Thanks

Year after year Thanksgiving is a special day.  It's a day to pause, reflect and give thanks.  In these troubled times that is sometimes difficult.  After all, 2020 is a year like no other that most of us have experienced.  The pandemic has brought with it a level of trauma and angst that is just not a normal part of life.  The death, isolation and fear is with us all every day.  And it's difficult to escape as it's invaded almost every facet of life.  

Adding to the trauma caused by a virus, the fabric of our culture seems torn.  After the last election, and really the last four years, we are clearly a country divided down the middle in how we view almost every aspect of our government, our people, and how we live our lives.  Whole sections of the country view other sections with disdain.  Many government decisions that impact us every day seem arbitrary, capricious and designed to favor a few over the many.  Frustration abounds.  

We are told constantly that there are large portions of the population who are racist, hateful, prejudiced against those not like them, and mysogynistic that want to turn back the clock and throw many of their fellow citizens in chains.  Or that there are whole sections of the country who are weak, socialistic, unappreciative, lazy, corrupt takers who want to destroy the country.  Instead of working together to solve problems we seem to have let our differences dominate our thinking about each other.  Instead of looking ahead we tend to look backwards.  And the historical perspective can be used in many devious ways by those ascribing to the validity of our ills.

And yet....we are all still Americans.  We all come together to overcome trials and tribulations.  It's been proven to be the case over and over.  December 7, 1941 and September 11, 2001 come to mind.  But it's also present in every day life.  Visit an area that's just been hit by a natural disaster be it hurricane, tornado, or wild fire.  You'll see an incredible coming together of people helping other people.  Often people they don't even know.  Or visit a place offering help, shelter and food to the homeless and disadvantaged.  Chat with a volunteer about why they are there.  You'll find the dominant answer is because helping people is what we should all be doing.  

So I'm optimistic for the future.  And I give thanks for many, many people, relationships and things in my life.  But I was thinking about the uniqueness of this year.  We hear every day about the heroes among us going above and beyond to help others.  But my primary thanks this year are the ordinary, every day people just doing their best.  Doing their best to keep it together.  Doing their best to be kind. Doing their best to maintain a sense of normalcy when nothing is normal.  The nurses, doctors, ambulance drivers, grocers, truck drivers, small business owners, gym owners, yoga studio owners, restaurant workers, farmers, migrant workers, landscapers, carpenters, electricians, private school teachers and administrators, preachers, and on and on and on.  They are all Indiana Jones!  They all are faced with seemingly insurmountable challenges, are thrown curveballs by local and state governments, have a dedication to the people who work for them that is incredible and get up in the morning and do it again all while keeping it together for their families.  It really comes down to ordinary people doing extraordinary things.  They didn't ask for this pandemic but they are doing their best.  They are Indiana Jones personified.  And they deserve everyone's thanks.