A Liberal
Dose
November
28, 2024
Troy D.
Smith
“We have
many reasons to be thankful”
For many of my indigenous friends around the country, the
whole month of November -and especially Thanksgiving -is considered a month of
mourning. Mourning for things lost, people lost, opportunities lost, land lost.
I know that for many of my progressive friends, devastated by the recent
election, there is also a sense of mourning, and of casting about for things to
feel thankful for. Many of my conservative friends are rejoicing, some claiming
we are about to enter a new golden age, and they are no doubt feeling very
thankful… but a few weeks ago they, too, were worried about the future and
discontent about the present, especially about the high cost of living. I fear that
inflation is not going to magically go away with a change in the White House,
and if Trump follows through on his tariff promises things will probably get a
lot worse. The momentary joy of being on the winning side will pass, and golden
dreams will feel hollow and tin-plated.
But we all do have a lot to be thankful for, right here,
right now. I am thankful for the life I am privileged to lead, the breath I am
privileged to draw. I am thankful for family, and friends, and faith. I am
thankful for hope, which always manages to shine through even if only in
slivers, like sunlight through the cracks in a prison wall, offering the smell
of life and freedom, even in the now. I am thankful to still live in a land
based on principles and ideals, though imperfectly formed and sometimes fraught
with hardship and danger. I am thankful to be part of an ongoing process of
striving to form a more perfect union, to be one set of hands in the myriad
seeking to mold this country into what the vision of it promises to be, rather
than be content with what it is today or what it was yesterday. I do not seek
to make America great again, I seek again to make America great. I do not seek
to divide and conquer, I seek to conquer the divide. We do not seek to tear down
the government, we seek to govern the torn down.
So, for today, let’s take a deep breath and be thankful for
what we have.
Tomorrow we will start thinking about how to hold on to it.
--Troy D.
Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee
Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party.
His words do not necessarily represent TTU.
You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE
A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE
Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com
The author's historical lectures on youtube can be found HERE
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