Column: There is more to be grateful for this Thanksgiving than family, friends and good health
Thanksgiving is the time to look back and remember how lucky we are. Often, our blessings are so bountiful that we cannot count them on two hands.
But this year is different — or it might seem that way, at least.
Amid COVID-19, gratitude takes a broader scope. This Thanksgiving isn’t just about taking a moment to show appreciation for the people we love or expressing our gratitude for good health and prosperity.
This year, we are keenly aware of the people who have touched our lives in ways that never seemed as important before the pandemic. We are thankful for the front-line medical professionals, police officers, firefighters, teachers, transit drivers, delivery people, grocery store employees and other essential workers who risk their health to make our lives easier.
The pandemic has caused us to rethink what it means to be grateful. For each person, it is different.
Someone told me that she is thankful for humor — the thing that keeps her grounded. Another is grateful for nature — the wooded trails, bike paths and waterfronts that provide a quiet place to clear the mind. Someone else is thankful for Zoom, for allowing her to see a friend’s smiling face, though they are far apart.
Many are thankful for their pets, new hobbies or their religious faith. Some are thankful for the extra time to clean out closets and organize their lives. A teacher told me that she is thankful for parents who are “doing it all” and going above and beyond to support their children during virtual school.
Some are thankful for the extra time spent with their children. Another is thankful that, due to the pandemic, she was able to spend the summer with a friend who has cancer. Someone else is thankful for the government safety net that kept her business financially afloat during the shutdown.
Another person is thankful that he was able to come to someone’s aid when they needed him. Someone else is thankful that she has come to understand the importance of never taking anything for granted.
So this year, Thanksgiving isn’t only about the people and events that touch us personally. We thank those who have impacted our entire nation and set a high standard for how we care for each other when all of us are suffering.
There are many on my list.
I am thankful for Dr. Anthony Fauci. Throughout the pandemic, his wise and steadfast counsel has provided the nation with a blueprint for staying healthy. We found comfort and resolve in his uncompromising voice, which has remained unshakably truthful despite political pressure to tell us lies.
I am grateful for Darnella Frazier, the 17-year-old from Minneapolis whose video of a police officer with his knee on George Floyd’s neck brought resounding awareness to the problem of social injustice. Darnella showed us up close the anguish of dying underneath the knee a ruthless policeman, and we will never forget the image.
I am thankful for young people like Alycia Kamil and Damayanti Wallace of GoodKids MadCity. During the early stages of the pandemic, the Chicago anti-violence youth group delivered hundreds of care packages, filled with hand sanitizer, disinfectants, toilet paper and nonperishable foods, to senior citizens throughout the city.
I am grateful for Jermaine Jordan, who runs the Healthy Hot Free Meals restaurant in West Garfield Park. Homeless people — or anyone who is hungry — can stop by for a hearty meal free of charge. I am also thankful for the 447 people who had donated $34,821 to his GoFundMe account as of Sunday.
I am thankful for dedicated workers like Victor Fajardo, who delivered the mail in Deerfield for 23 years until he was hospitalized with COVID-19 last month. And I am grateful for the people on his route who raised more than $11,000 for his family.
I am thankful for Stacey Abrams, the Georgia voting rights activist who showed us the importance of reaching out to disenfranchised voters. Her efforts to register Georgia’s growing immigrant population as well as African Americans who had been ignored contributed to President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the formerly red state.
I am thankful for Dolly Parton, who has proven that she is so much more than a talented singer and actress. Her $1 million donation to the development of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine is the latest of her decadeslong philanthropic work, which warrants her the distinction as a national treasure.
I am grateful to the three anonymous grand jurors in the Breonna Taylor case who came forward to denounce the way Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron handled the hearings. Because of their bravery, we know that he withheld evidence that could have led to indictments against the police officers involved in the young woman’s death.
I am thankful for community activists Roberta Logwood and Rosie Dawson, of the “Stop Taking Our Girls” campaign, which is pushing Chicago law enforcement officials to prioritize cases involving missing and murdered Black women.
I am thankful for Minnesota ICU nurse Mary Turner, who gave the president-elect a heart-wrenching description of the emotional toll on health care workers on the front line of the pandemic. She spoke on behalf of all the brave nurses who hold the hands of dying patients and put their own lives at risk because of inadequate personal protection equipment.
I am thankful for Barack Obama, who reminded us what it is like to have a president we could be proud of. I am grateful that he broke presidential protocol and warned us about the danger of reelecting a man who is not just incompetent but dangerous.
And I am thankful for the nearly 80 million people who realized that America could be a much better nation than it has been the past four years and stepped into the voting booth to set us on our way.
This Thanksgiving, I am grateful that most Americans will be able to look back one day soon and be proud of how far we have come.
Twitter @dahleeng
———
©2020 the Chicago Tribune
Visit the Chicago Tribune at www.chicagotribune.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
