It’s the day before Thanksgiving and I’m feeling gratitude. For real. Deeply. And I’m holding onto it.

I’m ‘gratituding’ not just to herald the holiday, but because if I don’t, I’ll continue sink in the craziness that marks the news, frightened of the direction of my place here as woman, and pissed off that so few with power give two katuunkers about people with less than them.

So, I cling to gratitude. And it works. My immediate world, my community, is pretty good. My kids’ friend’s parents (AKA mommy’s new friends) are smart, funny and democratic— to their cores. They do good stuff, they show up, they create. They care.

My husband is loving, steady, funny, sharp and never lets me wallow. And he’s cooking for tomorrow. My kids, healthy, interesting and should grow up to be independent characters. This is good.

Me, well, I suffer a bit. I feel a lot. Every sexual assault news-bit brings up a not-so-minor case of the blues. I often need triage, I know. So does my culture.  Except that the people who usually give triage are too busy analyzing how the first accident happened. What a waste of time. It’s over.

The world has shifted. The accident happened. And the forces that be, shoot a wildly unhealthy undercurrent of “big ideas” and fake “holy wars” beneath our day-to-day lives. They fill the news with rolling tides of venom and debris, and golden, moneyed promises for the few. These forces are fueled by things called “partisanship” and “nationalism.” They use principals not to guide them, but to guide us.

We are fooled by the media, and the “fake news,” commercialism  and capitalism. And The Most Powerful Kings of Media control our health care, our taxes, our behavior, our borders and our perception. They control our thinking too, though I’m sure even I would like to argue that point (except I’m too busy feeling dis-empowered and tired from all I see on the media…).

I’m digress. Because that’s what I do. I think in a circle. I feel AND think. Yet, today, I’m calling the ambulance. I’m calling on thankfulness. This sweet, prayerful feeling that sounds so uselessly ‘nice’ and I give so little credit to as a tidal powerhouse. Thankfulness moves the needle. At least in my life. Right now.

And maybe in my community too. And the one beyond that?  Perhaps.

It could be time I step up and fight— via legislation and hard work— for that things that shift the tide the natural way. Maybe it is time that I join my decent neighbors in doing what we do: live decent lives.

We are not TV. We are good people who tolerate, love, grow and create. We evolve.

In this world, things (so far) stay smart, safe, fair and democratic. Gratitude for my neighbors and neighborhood and place in this world can grow, and grow stronger, if I work at it. Ain’t no one hurt me here. Only my TV makes me tired and weary.

*****

So, my Thanksgiving is for Real Life. It is for the man before me. The kids on the couch. For my people. My community. Thank God. I’m grateful. I’m with you.