How Thankful Am I?

Politics be damned, I still have a great deal for which to be thankful. I don't post it enough, and I know this blog often has depressing overtones. It's part of my personality and psyche, after all. But here we are, moving closer to the end of the year, and we're coming upon one of my favorite holidays:  Thanksgiving. Bearing that in mind, I would like to take this opportunity to let you know about a few of the things for which I am truly thankful. And also, I feel like, in light of recent events and the ongoing issues in our country, we all need to be reminded every once in a while that there are things for which we can be thankful. 

So here's my partial list: 

• My wife - I met Katie at a time in my life when I was ready to give up. She brought me back from that. Made me feel like myself again. She became more than just a girlfriend, more than a lover... She became my best friend. She became my confidant. She became the person upon whose shoulder I could cry, who would laugh at my jokes, and who wouldn't judge me for being the damaged wreck of a human being that I am. She married me (officially) this year in March, and I can honestly say something I never thought I would say again:  I'm happy. For someone like me, happiness comes in fleeting bursts and are treasured moments. With her, those bursts come more often and last longer. 
• My kids - I've got two. Daughters. One is off living on her own, finding her own path, and doing what makes her happy. That makes me proud. The other is still in high school and has my sense of humor. They both are responsible for the greatest joys and worst sadness in my life, and I wouldn't trade either of them for gold. 
• My pug - Sir Maximus Pugnacious, eater of bacon, destroyer of underwear, first of his name, long may he reign. Max may have seemed like an expensive luxury, but he is one of the greatest creatures in my life. For someone who, like me, has PTSD and depression, a pup can be exactly what you need to bring you out of a terrible state. Max does that for me. 
• All my other pets - Timoune, Bitsy, Fuzz-Butt, Buster, Pretty Fish, Carmel... I know. I own a zoo. Don't care. They're more than my pets. They're part of my family. 
• I have a job - Lots of people don't. Lots of people have jobs, but are still unable to afford health care or homes or cars or internet or cellphones or dinner. I have a job. My job provides me with health care, a roof over my head, my car, my Harley, the occasional night out. As much as I bitch about my job, I'm thankful I have it. 
• My family (extended and otherwise) - They say everyone has two families:  One into which they are born, the other the one they chose. The family into which I was born includes my brother and his family, my father, my first and second set of in-laws, and everyone to whom I claim blood relation. And I'm so thankful for them. But I'm also thankful to my extended family. My chosen family, if you will. These are people who adopted me as one of their own. Who treat me like blood even though they don't need to. People like the Hopemans, the McCrocklins, the Taylors... People like my extended Kajukenbo family. People who I seldom get to see, but I love them the same. People with last names like Prather, Barton, Moore. People who came to my wedding and who have stood by me.
• My other jobs - I'm a writer. I'm a teacher. I'm a coach. These things help define who I am, and I'm thankful for the privilege of doing these jobs. I'm thankful for my agent, every editor who has rejected (or accepted me), every student I've ever had (even the ones I didn't get along with), my instructor and those I've instructed. 
• My situation - How many people get a second chance? How many people can say they've been through what I have and are still standing? Probably plenty. I'm not special. But I'm thankful that I am alive, and that I am in my current situation. 

There are so many more things for which I'm thankful that I could go on for days, and every moment would bring something else to mind. Thankful my mother made me take typing. Thankful my father never let me quit Boy Scouts. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera... The point is, there are so many things around for which I can be thankful, and this time of year is designed to bring us to reflect upon them. 

For many, the things for which I am thankful are out of reach. Not everyone has cars, dogs, family... Not everyone can afford a roof or Thanksgiving dinner. At this time, it's important, not only to remember the things we often take for granted, but to reach out to those who may not have as much. It isn't my place to tell you to whom you should reach. But remember that, for some, this year there ins't so much for which to be thankful. So make them thankful that you're part of their lives. Be the person who says "join us." Be the safe haven. Be the blanket. Be the change that you want to see in the world. And when you do, believe it or not, you'll be all the more thankful. 

Until next time ---

SAJ

No... You move.

I'm sitting here at my desk in shock. I know the world continues to spin, and that people will still be themselves, but I'm sorely disappointed in my country. America. My web address, americanhorrorwriter, both .com and .net, were my pride. I chose them because America was the land of the free, home of the brave, land of equality and tolerance. Now... I'm heartsick. I'm ashamed of being an American. I'm ashamed at my home state, Texas.

Not surprised, mind you. Just ashamed.

I'm both surprised by, and ashamed of, my adopted state, Pennsylvania.

We lived, for eight years, with a great man at the helm of our country. Love him or hate him, disagree if you must. We made strides toward peace, toward equality, and toward leaving behind a world our children could be proud of. In one night, the people of the USA brought all that to an end.

Here's what we are going to lose:

• The Supreme Court will be dominated by conservative justices for a generation.
• Same-sex marriage will likely be outlawed on a national level.
• A woman's right to choose will end.
• Social Security will be cut. Or even eliminated. 
• The rich will get more tax breaks.
• Medicare will be cut or repealed.
• Obamacare will be repealed.
• We are likely to head into a recession, possibly a depression. 
• There will be no action on climate change.
• Our international relationships will be destroyed. 
• NATO will be crippled or disbanded.
• Oil drilling, fracking, and pipelines will get tax benefits and govt subsidies. 
• We are likely to end up in a war with Iran. 
• We might see the end of the free press. 
• He will gut or close the Department of Education
• He will gut or close the EPA

In addition, take a look at what else this means. Now it's acceptable to assault women and grab them by the genitals. Now it is acceptable to molest or rape young women. Now it's acceptable to be a racist toward Hispanics and those of African or Asian descent. Now it's acceptable to discriminate against people in the LGBT community and people of a different religion. Now it's acceptable to lie to the American public without fear of prosecution, and to threaten to destroy the fact checkers. Social commentary will be met with threats of lawsuit, and he'll win because his party also has control over the House of Representatives and Senate. Donald J. Trump will nominate two Supreme Court Justices. 

Do you realize what you've done? 

A man who has no regard for the "sanctity of marriage" is now in charge of defining what that means. Your mothers, sisters, wives, co-workers and friends no longer have any control over their own bodies. Ready to retire?  Tough shit. Social Security and Medicare won't be there. And your children? They'll inherit a world that grows progressively hotter and is running out of resources faster than you can believe. And those of you who want to rise above your past through education? You're stuck. Education is about to be gutted too, which means that we will become a nation overrun with ignorance. 

For the first time in my life, I accept no blame for this. Why? Because I voted. I encouraged people to vote. I voted in the primaries and made my voice heard. I actually read the issues instead of trusting the sound-bytes that were screamed on television. I saw what this walking pile of excrement was, and voted against him. 

But you... 

Who's to blame? You who followed the advice of certain nihilistic people and didn't vote because "it doesn't matter anyway" or because it was your way of protesting an imperfect system. You now will live in the future you made. Your complaints over the administration or even the system are null and void, a bullshit argument about a system you couldn't be arsed to change. Scream all you like. You did this. 

You who voted for a third party, as was your right... Take a look at the numbers. Notice how the percentages by which the walking cheeto got elected are the numbers which your not-a-chance-in-hell candidate got? I get it... No single snowflake feels responsible for the avalanche. But you are. 

You who scream "but Hillery is worse!" Do you really mean that? Worse than a child rapist? Worse than the man who bankrupted all of his companies while covering his own ass? Worse than the man who molests women and says the minorities in this country are the cause of all the evils? Because if you really believe that, you didn't actually read about the candidates, did you? 

You who actually voted for Trump, you should get down on your knees and beg forgiveness of your mothers, daughters, friends that aren't white, and the rest of the country that you've hurt. You should beg forgiveness, and be prepared when it will not be given. 

To all my friends who are women, to my daughters, to my wife, to all my friends who aren't white, who aren't Christian, and to all the members of the LGBT community... I'm sorry. I still support you. I stand beside you and will hold you up when you get knocked down. I will defend your right to happiness and to choose what you do with your own body and what consenting adults do in the privacy of your own home with my dying breath. I pledge, now and forever, that I will stand beside you.

It sounds like a hollow promise, I know.  After all, I'm a white male. I'm privileged. I know it. 

But I truly believe that America, MY America, should be a place of equality. I truly abhor racism and sexism and discrimination and subjugation of any kind, even though some times I'm blind to it. I'm thankful to the people who point it out to me because only through awareness and education can we truly fight it. And maybe I sound naive. Maybe I sound like a SJW or hopelessly deluded. But I, the individual, do not want my children, or their children, to grow up in a world where people are discriminated against because of the color of their skin or for any other reason. 

How can we fight this? Education. Why do you think he wants to gut education? Because the more educated we become, the more we actually think, the more we will begin to question his motivations. The more we will evolve into a more enlightened species. The more we will come to realize that discrimination for any reason is wrong. 

There's a thing going around right now that's a quote from a comic book. I'm posting it here. 

So here it is. These words are not mine, but I hold them dear. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

So the question is this:  What do we do now? 

I have one solution. Everyone who has something against Trump, everyone ever molested, touched, groped, robbed, cheated, or destroyed by him, stand up. Get him in front of the court. Have him federally indicted. Send him to the big house before the white house. Please. 

To all my friends, I love you. To the people that will lose their rights, I love you. I'm sorry. We will overcome this. We have to. We have to be better than this. 

SAJ