It really can be difficult to be a grateful Democratic activist in this environment flooded with
GOP-anti-U.S.-Government hate but as one of those activists who can't give up on our representative government way of
life it was important to my political mental health that I find 10
things I can be grateful for this Thanksgiving Holiday! And I did...
Ten
I
am grateful I was born and raised just out side of Boston,
Massachusetts, where, when I was child, pride in a revolution fought
to put the goal of leaving an Aristocracy behind and striving to
create a More Perfect Union was our assimilation. I always knew our
history mattered.
Nine
I
am grateful that I attended public schools, 12 years of them, taught
by teachers who, primarily, understood the importance of steeping new
citizens in a mix of academics and civics with a strong underlying
belief in The Common Good as the glue that held us together.
Eight
I
am grateful that as a young teen, I was able to watch John F.
Kennedy run for the presidency and, in the process, teach us that
everyone had a responsibility to be a good citizen and that everyone
had something to offer ~ from serving in the Military to the Peace
Corp to everything in between.
Seven
I
am grateful that as an older teen, I was able to watch Martin
Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, despite losses endured
when we lost Jack, Martin and Bobby, and see the passion and the sacrifice for their visions of what is possible touch my
generation, deeply.
Six
I
am grateful for my children and my grandchildren who I hope I
have been able to instill some of our history as a
People and the belief that we can always do better and that we should
because, imperfect as they were, our Founding Fathers were on the
right track.
Five
I
am grateful that my husband and I have been able to introduce our
children and our grandchildren to our Capitol City because it is
still a place, despite all of the criticism it gets, that can
architecturally reinforce the power of those whose shoulders we stand on.
Four
I
am grateful to have had Senator Edward Kennedy as my Senator because
now I know what a representative of The People is suppose to be ~
human, flawed and dedicated to the health and welfare of The People
because the success of our nation depends on it.
Three
I
am grateful that in 1992, I was able to attend, with 100's of 1000's
of women, a pro-choice march in Washington, D.C., where choice
crystallized for me as a way of life and where I first really recognized the
power of women ~ if it could only be harnessed.
Two
I
am grateful for my early work as a nurse's aide because it taught me
that life is term limited; for my work as a journalist because it
taught me responsibility goes with the work of informing and; for my
work with women because it taught me that we can accomplish so much
more as a village.
One
I
am grateful for the opportunity I had to volunteer on behalf of our
current President, Barack Obama, and I am grateful for the
opportunity to volunteer on behalf of our next President, Hillary
Clinton ~ two transformational public servants working to move us
from one Century to another while keeping the best and leaving the
rest even as the resistance rages on.
G., aka Partisan Democrat
( Please follow me at http://gkmtnblogs.blogspot.com/
where you can sign up for an e-mail notification when GKMTNblogs posts! )
Thank you for pointing out the things you are thankful for in these tense, difficult days. I am a few years older than you, and was privileged to vote for JFK the first time I was eligible to vote.
ReplyDeleteThese are all good and valid points for reflection and for gratitude.
You are very welcome and thank you for stopping by! It's always a great exercise/seeking what I can be grateful for when I don't think there's anything there...
ReplyDelete