HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE
what am I thankful for? of course, friends and family and that I survived having COVID this year, but the unique thing I am thankful for this year is that Joe Biden won the presidency. This may sound like a political post, but actually it's not.
I am thankful in the sense that it will definitely save our nation from descending into anarchy and being ruled by an authoritarian type dictator. It has weighed on my heart these past four year how debased our civil discourse has become. It has weighed on my heart how close we have come to being ruled by a dictatorship. It has weighed deeply on my heart as to how close we have come to trashing our sacred gift of the Constitution.
My earliest memory is of coming to the US and on our first day having my father read to my mother and I in (German and English) the words on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty:
"Give me your tired your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shores.
Send these the homeless tempest tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
That lamp has been dimmed these past flour years. As an immigrant who had to achieve his US Citizenship, I learned about the constitution many years ago. I learned to marvel at it's uniqueness and protections. During these past four years is had grieved me to see it trashed and disregarded. In addition we have not lived up to the promise of that contract on the statue.
As a child, my mother (who was a child refugee from Hitler's war) would often warn me about certain words and actions that people in power or vying for power, would say and do. She would warn me of the subtle signs of creeping authoritarianism. It so alarmed me greatly five and a half years ago when a politician came on the national stage who was giving the world hints about wanting to edge into a dictatorship.
So it is with relief and a grateful heart for the sake of our nation, the sake of our global relationships and for those oppressed that we have elected a person who cares, who is thoughtful and who is experienced. We can look forward to a new political attitude from our nation leader.
Perhaps we can remember the words of Hubert Humphrey that I have shared before:
"The truest test of a nation is how they treat those in the sunrise of life, those in the sunset of life and most importantly, the poor, the sick and the stranger among us."
It is with those words I am thankful and take not only comfort in but also revel in the promise of things to come!
I am also thankful for you my friends on this site. For being able to grieve together, to share our outrage, to at times laugh not only at those in public life but share humor and personal grief, struggles and joys.
I greatly anticipate the day when we can all be in community with each other together again.
Happy Thanksgiving, be safe, be thankful and enjoy your day!!! Mike C
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