[Mb-civic] A day for thanks, and for wishes - Joan Vennochi - Boston Globe Op-Ed

[William Swiggard]

A day for thanks, and for wishes

By Joan Vennochi, Globe Columnist  |  November 24, 2005

HOLIDAY COLUMNS scare me. Under pressure to produce words that might 
pull people from their Thanksgiving turkey, the brain freezes.

I mentioned this to one regular e-mail correspondent, Herbert Yood of 
Orleans. Within minutes he fired back this reply:

''Were it I, I'd give a shot at what we ought to be thankful for. There 
are plenty of things we bemoan -- the war in Iraq, the fact that people 
we don't know are very happy to kill us, an absurd health care system, a 
corrupted political system and so on, but we rarely express thanks for 
what we do have:

''A civilization that does provide education and opportunity to many.

''The fact that we are Americans instead of people in far less pleasant 
lands.

''Free public libraries.

''People who worry about the air we breathe and the water we drink 
(true, we also have people who foul both the air we breathe and the 
water we drink, but at least it's not all one way).

''Some of us are lucky enough to be able to love and be loved.

''That however dysfunctional our healthcare system is, that there are 
people within it who do their best to provide healing and comfort to the 
afflicted.

''That ultimately we live in a country where many people have good hearts.

''And, despite all the sins of the press/ media, we do live in a society 
where we are free to express our thoughts. Even at my sourest, I have 
always known that if I had been born and raised in many other countries, 
I would long ago have been put up against a wall and shot. And you -- my 
goodness. Your life expectancy in a place like Zimbabwe or the Sudan 
could probably be measured in seconds, were you in those places."

Thank you, Herb.

His last point is especially noteworthy for journalists, but there is 
something in what he wrote for everyone. Essentially, he reminds us of 
the enormous freedom we have in this country to disagree, point out 
flaws, and blame each other for what goes wrong. And it all happens 
within the context of civilized, if not always civil, debate.

In the press, we take shots -- in print, on the air, and via the 
Internet -- every day. In return, we expect nothing more than nasty 
e-mail shot back at us. And we complain about that, too, even while 
colleagues risk their lives as they report from the epicenter of vicious 
struggles in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This country is at war with itself over war. Still, as ugly as American 
politics can be, the damage is confined to victory or defeat on election 
day. In America, headlines may blow up someone's political career and 
polls may undercut their political influence. The idea that an endless 
supply of people will blow themselves up in an effort to turn the 
political tide in Iraq still has the capacity to shock; it is so alien 
to the way power ebbs and flows in this nation.

We drag our politicians through the mud, not from their beds, to be shot 
and tossed dead on the street. We can be grateful for that, as well as 
for everything else my e-mail correspondent mentions.

Yet some of us still do selfishly wish for more, personally and 
collectively as a country. For example, instead of simply bemoaning war, 
I wish there were a way to figure a way out of it as Americans, not as 
Democrats or Republicans. I wish the country could look ahead, not back, 
and in doing so, politicians would focus on solving problems, not on 
waging their next presidential campaign. I wish there were a way to 
appreciate everything we have and then agree on how to make it better. I 
wish that the political right and left in this country would appreciate 
the preciousness of cacophony and stop trying to impose their specific 
set of values on everyone else.

Wishing for more and thinking it possible, if not probable -- come to 
think of it, those are also reasons to give thanks in America.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/11/24/a_day_for_thanks_and_for_wishes/
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