At my home today, we began to get ready for Thanksgiving. Our main concern was getting things together to go see my parents tomorrow. They are in their eighties and don't make a turkey anymore. We talked about buying pies, what vegetables we would have and if we would go visit my cousins in the nearby town of Needville. One of my kids is going with me, and other is flying to Argentina as I speak - where they don't celebrate Thanksgiving. I don't think he'll miss the turkey dinner anyway.
When I sit down with my parents tomorrow, they will ask one of us to say a prayer, which is usually about how thankful we are that the family is ok, and are together one more time. Even though I probably won't say anything, I'll be thinking about how lucky we are that we have American passports, that we are educated, that we are able to make the payments on our home - and that we are not in danger of being taken away by ICE.
We've become vegetarians, so the idea of killing a turkey for our satisfaction upsets my stomach. We buy something called a Tofurky, which is a strange conglomeration of soy and who knows what else. But at least we don't feel guilty.
There are other things to feel guilty about. As I sit in my comfortable room writing on this blog I am listening to NPR. Daniel Schorr begins speaking. He says something about 9-11 and how tourism has gone down 17% since then - mostly due to the difficulty of entering this country. Even the sinking dollar hasn't helped that much. He talks about the battles in Congress. He's right. The Senate is a mess. Ever since the demise of the immigration bill, I have gotten into the habit of checking in with Harry Reid on C-Span - just to see what's going on. Invariably, its always Senator Reid saying that he is so disappointed that his "friends" on the other side of the aisle have blocked one vote or another. The Congress hasn't done much this session. I believe they are trapped in their own fear (of losing an election? of becoming even more unpopular? of Cheney casting an evil spell on them?)
Towards the end of his report, Schorr talks of his sadness about how Americans are so afraid of foreigners. He mentions the woman who was breastfeeding her child, who was deported, with the child (an American citizen) going into foster care. He says that Americans are no longer able to accept differences - his exact word is tolerance, but I think that word is a bit patronizing.
When the transcript to Schorr's report becomes available it will be posted on dreamacttexas. In the meantime I'll post how he ended:
America, God shed his light on thee, and crown they good with brotherhood...
Link to Daniel Schorrs NPR report:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16523582
image: http://www.curtispublishing.com/images/NonRockwell/9231201.jpg
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