I'm thankful that the Supreme Court hasn't gotten another anti-choice justice.
I'm thankful that privacy laws haven't been as terrible as I'd thought they'd be.
I'm thankful that President Bush hasn't managed to singlehandedly start World War III.
I'm thankful that the doctor making a human clone hasn't been arrested for doing scientific research on volunteer subjects.
I'm thankful that the economy hasn't gone down so far that I have trouble finding employment.
The problem is, with all my Thanksgiving wishes...
I could easily add yet to every one of them.
No, we don't have those things. Yet.
But we may, and it may happen soon.
A year hence, I hope to be eating humble pie instead of pumpkin, telling you all that I was wrong on this Thanksgiving Day. But while I hope it, I doubt it.
Can you feel the squeeze? Can you feel a little bit of difference from this time last year? Even though everyone last year at this time was still saying "nuke those Arab bastards," at least they were active, pressing for something. That's not the case, anymore.
Now, the people are almost resigned. Apathetic. There is a pervasive greyness in the nation that has not been caused only by the tryptophan in the turkey we're collectively partaking of tonight. A lackluster election full of races with two equally distasteful candidates, a year of having our privacy taken away - mostly because we have given it away, steady economic contraction and months of being told of an imminent war has created a state of helplessness.
The general feeling is, we can't do anything. Why even bother?
Truth is, the best thing you can do right now is to get rid of the apathy. That's really the ONLY thing you can do - while everyone remains apathetic there is nothing to be done.
Instead of writing to your Congressman this holiday season, remember that he doesn't read his mail anyway, and his secretary has seen your letter in some form a thousand times before. Instead of trying to work up a legal furor, work up a local furor. Talk to PEOPLE. Hold demonstrations, if you can find enough people that'll hold up signs in the cold of winter. Talk to your friends, your family, about the things that will affect us all in the coming years.
It's only once the nation awakens from its stupor and faces facts that we can start to rise up and do what's right.
