Illegitimi Non Carborundum - Happy Thanksgiving

 

 

    I started out the month of November a little down in the dumps.  The longest ever government shutdown, the resulting pause in SNAP benefits and mass firings of government employees was both alarming and depressing. The increased number of homeless people pleading for help with cardboard signs while the Government continues to drastically cut or eliminate social safety net programs was and remains emotionally overwhelming and devastating to watch. Reports of daily Russian missile, drone and artillery attacks on Ukrainian civilians and their infrastructure, and multiple war crimes is frightening and appalling. The political divisions in this country and daily chaos coming out of Washington are worse than at any time I can remember. The thought of celebrating Thanksgiving in the midst of all of this suffering seemed both pointless and insensitive.   

    I needed to dig deeper than normal to find my gratitude.  Fortunately, there are a few November days that are worth celebrating and being grateful for. I started to focus on the positive, to try and balance out the negative. 

    My daughter Sarah was born on November 7th of 1983.  I remember holding her as a little baby. We went through some rough years when she was a teenager, which was very understandable as her mom and I had divorced when she was very young. But that's all water under the bridge, and we get along fine now, and I’m grateful for that.  

    I met my wife Denise the day after Thanksgiving in 1985. I was unemployed, broke and living with my dad, but she decided to ask me to her company's Christmas party a few weeks later. I spent that Christmas with her and her family, including her daughters Jennifer and Stephanie. We got married in 1988 and have been together ever since. I’m grateful for that, our home and a long career that I just retired from a couple of months ago. 

    In November of 2022, my friend Heather wrote an article for the local newspaper on two Ukrainian war refugees, a mother and her son who had wound up in Roanoke.  That mother and son became my “bonus” daughter and grandson and brought a whole new group of Ukrainian friends into my life. I was recently asked what I had learned about the Ukrainian people and I was quick to reply “they are just like us”. That was quickly followed by “I love Ukrainian food!”. I’m grateful for all of that and all of them.  

    This month, I was invited to play my music for a couple of places and had a short story published in a book that was published this month. I finished my first co-written song with my writing partner Dan and got to play a couple of song circles (which I refer to as group therapy). All of that to say that my creative outlets are doing well. I’m very grateful for that. 

    While the other problems I mentioned at the beginning of this post are just as real and important now as they were on November 1st, at least I have good solid reasons to feel some Thanksgiving gratitude and not become overwhelmed by everything else. I’m working hard to create change in places where I can, and I’m grateful for the ability and opportunity to do so. We all have a part to play in making the world a little better, so I say to all of us, Illegitimi non carborundum. That’s a mock Latin phrase that means “Don’t Let The Bastards Grind You Down”.  Whatever events or bastards are grinding you down this month, take a minute to reflect on the good things in your life to be grateful for. Then, hopefully, we can all help to bring about some positive change in the world. I’d be grateful for that and so would you.  Happy Thanksgiving. 

    I welcome your thoughts and experiences in the comments below. Please share this post with others who value both humor and serious stuff about this blue marble that we all share. 

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