Good or bad, down economic climates or not, I am thankful to be alive. Doesn’t that say it all?
Relationships, kid issues, my dog’s inability to have his ear heal without some sort of hurculean effort. It doesn’t really matter. Not as long as I live and breathe.
Some people don’t want to live. I feel for them. I don’t feel bad, I just feel for them. It must be hell to not want to see what happens next. What if I didn’t care what happens next? I’d be a shell of a man.
During the next year I’m sure I’ll face my set of challenges. My business will succeed, but what if it’s rough? My children will struggle, but they’ll make it through okay. I have faith.
I’m thankful for many, many things including people who shine a light on the forgotten parts of my soul. You know who you are.
Nothing, however, makes me more thankful than to wake up and know that I’m not missing something. I want to learn, and teach. I want to love. I want to want. I want to see and be seen. I want to embrace and be embraced.
Above all, I want to be thankful. For everything.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Tomorrow morning I intend on getting up on time, doing my normal daily routine of getting junior ready for his day (making lunch, getting him breakfast — he’s having pancakes, but he doesn’t know it yet; he’ll love me for it), and, finally, after what seems like four years in the making, getting out to vote.
To cut to the chase, I’m voting for the Obama/Biden ticket.
As much as I’d love to say that I’m just pulling the lever on the party line, I’m not. Even though I am a registered Democrat, this political journey has been a statement to my adult life.
I do not, at this time, feel at all associated with the likes of John McCain. It’s possible, however, that I would have voted for him in 2000, but really, I’m not at all comfortable with his wild-eyed, ridiculously annoying interruptive and intruding personality. Nor am I comfortable AT ALL with his running mate.
When I feel that I can do a better job of being second on the “Red Button List” than the person who’s running, I don’t think they deserve my vote. 2012, maybe? Please. She could spend the next twenty years learning her way around the network, but then she’d be just like everyone else, right? Instant Fail.
Too many times, previously, have I sat around and pretended to know more than I do about a specific candidate. Too many times have I wondered what life would be like if the “other” guy had won.
THIS time, I may still be in a position to think I know what is best for me, but again, I’m making a decision based on some policies and speeches that were written by someone’s staff and not of the pen of the talking head.
Locally, in Massachusetts, we have some really heavy discussions about this race. And, unfortunately, race in general. Race is not supposed to be an issue in 2008. Neither is sexual orientation or whether or not you believe in God.
Maybe this race is about race. Maybe it’s about the first female VP. Maybe it’s about standing up for our beliefs in an age where information is brought to you in thousands of ways in approximately 22 nanoseconds.
Regardless of what motivates you, make an informed decision and vote. Tomorrow. Like me.
Oh, and … good luck to all of us no matter how this thing goes down.
