Thanksgiving

I Am Not Usually Political

/ howardshapiro / 8 Comments

DemsRepubsI am not excited with our presidential political process yet. I should be; there certainly has been enough drama and the spectacle has unquestionably been anything but flat. But it’s been a show. The real issues that touch people’s lives and that impact our culture and society are back stage and haven’t broken through the fourth wall.

Not that they haven’t tried. I think there have been six Republican and five Democratic debates so far. The sponsoring network tries to make the run up and the follow up compelling, but somehow I don’t feel connected. And I’m not being partisan here – this sense I have crosses both party lines.

I have tried to figure out why. It is no secret to most people who know me that I was energized eight years ago, excited in “the change we can believe in”. It is just none of the candidates work for me. Conceptually, I would love to see a woman president. With some embarrassment I say, I would love to see a Jewish president, no matter how unobservant. With a little bit of trepidation, I timidly say I would love to see a young and bright candidate whose family are recent immigrants. But nothing is motivating me, until this morning.

Front page of the New York Times, next to a picture of two feet of snow in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, there is this headline. “Bloomberg Is Considering 3rd Party Bid.” My heart soared. I read the article through carefully. Is there really a chance that a knight in shining armor can come and save this our beloved country? Is there really someone who can galvanize all those people like me who are sick of politics the way it is being played out and don’t want to vote for any of the current runners? Is there hope?

Here comes the caveat and my need to back peddle a little bit and make sure I am being clear here.  These words are not an endorsement of Michael Bloomberg. They are a testimony to the need for someone in this political process to understand me and people like me: life-time democrat who believes in an agenda firmly rooted in America’s promise in the potential and right of every individual to live up to their highest potential no matter where they were born, how much pigment they have in their skin, what their religion, what their faith. To know that I am looking for a president who can unite this country with a practical vision that encompasses a plan to address a crumbling infrastructure which for me means bridges and roads but not just physical ones: bridges between races, roads that promise pathways to the American dream for the poor and underprivileged, beltways that force politicians to face the real problems of gun violence and terror both home grown and imported. I want a president who can bring us together and make me believe in the American political process again.

Am I expecting too much? Am I an inveterate and impossibly naïve dreamer? Am I looking for the messiah? You tell me.

 

Freedom from Want

/ howardshapiro / 8 Comments

UnknownIt is the day before Thanksgiving and I am gearing up for my food prep schedule. Went over the menu last night and it passed muster with one of our more discerning guests. The next issue is the timing of the feast between football games – although I think we got that covered with apps and all that stuff.

I love Thanksgiving. It is everyone’s holiday. You don’t have to go back to the saga of the Pilgrims and Native Americans. You don’t have to buy into the Norman Rockwell painting of an idealized gathering with an impeccable bird and “perfect” all American family.  We are more diversified than that and maybe always were. I love that no one seems to be complaining in his picture. Everyone is happy and in my mind no one is standing in a line or camping out in the parking lot of some mall in order to get the best Black Friday deals some of which now begin on Thanksgiving itself.

Some corporate team probably made the decision that jumping the gun to open Thursday night would bring in more money. I feel badly for the people, who have to stock the shelves, work the cash register and say, “Welcome to Walmart” (or whatever the store).   I liked it better when Thanksgiving was a commercial free zone and we could concentrate on giving thanks for what we have not what we want. In my language, we are losing the sense of the sacred. Or maybe the sacred can no longer last a whole day. And we can moan and bewail the state of our society or we can go with what is and celebrate without judgment.

This is what I mean by the sacred: when I feel connected to something outside of myself – my spouse, family, friend, a tree, a bush, a flowing stream, a child learning how to crawl, the smile of a stranger passing by, the night sky, the universe within, God. When my heart announces itself with a sense of warmth, affection, love. When I know it beats not just for my survival but so that I can do good and make that proverbial difference, no matter how little, how big.

So I am thankful today and try to be everyday. But the truth is it is easy to forget and just get up in the morning, brush your teeth, figure out what’s for breakfast, check your calendar and you are off and running. Thanksgiving focuses me and I try to appreciate the blessings of family, of food, of love. It focuses me and I give thanks for this wonderful and flawed country we call home. I think especially how many challenges we have before us in this dangerous world we are trying to share. I think of the Thanksgiving metaphor and how as Americans we need to pull together to face this newly darkened tomorrow.  We have done so in the past and I pray we can find a way to gather around the same table and bless each other again.

The Rockwell painting above is called: “Freedom from Want”. May we all be so blessed.