Thankful For…

Thankful for Sly the Fly for revealing the lack of peripheral nerve cells in the brain of Mike Pence.

Thankful for the coronavirus, not for the pain and suffering it has caused but the fact that without it, Donald Trump would have been reelected by his cult followers, leading to the possible destruction of American democracy, and the establishment of a long term oligarchy of Trump family rule.

Thankful for Donald Trump for his persistent and chronic habit of putting his hand into the figurative monkey trap, an ingenious device that places food into a tethered gourd. A monkey comes by, sticks his hand into the gourd, grabs food, and can then no longer pull his hand out, and is trapped as his fist with the food is now too large to remove himself from the trap. All the monkey has to do to go free is let go of the food. But conditioned greed and desire will not allow it to do so. And so it is with Trump, the sitting President who provoked his own defeat by his unwillingness to let go of actions which were deleterious to himself and the country, particularly his minimization of the coronavirus and its subsequent Covid-19 pandemic, leading to business shutdowns and a major economic downturn, all leading to Joe Biden’s historic victory. Thank you, Angels.

Thankful for Stacey Abrams of Georgia for bouncing back from a stolen gubernatorial election in 2018 to form an organization, Fair Fight, that opposed voter suppression to such an extent that it empowered Black and Hispanic voters to vote in record numbers in 2020 not only in Georgia but in other battleground states, that disempowered Republican efforts to suppress as many minority votes as they could for now and in the future. If I were President, I would give Ms. Abrams the highest medal of honor I had in my quiver of medals.

Thankful for front line medical staff who valiantly faced the virus, despite the dangers to themselves and their families.

Thankful for the late George Floyd and Black Lives Matter who brought a mirror up to the face of America and forced us to see our pervasive systemic racism up close and personal.

And thankful to President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris for having the courage to run an honest, heartfelt campaign against a Trump steamroller whose aim was to flatten everything in its way. Joe and Kamala never wavered in the face of the Trump onslaught, and still stay steadfast in the face of Trump lies and crooked efforts to reverse the results of a fair and honest election in the aftermath of their victory.

And finally, I’m thankful for my wife Ruth who has stayed by my side these past years during a fourth stage cancer diagnosis and chemo treatment, along with subsequent heart failure and a period of insomnia I wouldn’t wish on anyone, including Donald Trump. I’m not out of the woods yet, but am making significant progress.

Love and good health to you all! And a very Happy Thanksgiving.