Whatever the questionable, genocidal origins of the holiday we celebrate today, I do believe we can make it into what we want it to be by our celebration, and what I always like about it is what the name says — a time for giving thanks.
I’d been meaning to write something about this earlier, but what I’m most thankful for is that this year, unlike most that I’ve lived through, I can look around and say that I have true friends. I remember back in college getting frustrated with a roommate of two years and having someone tell me, “Ahh, you guys’ll be friends for life, hanging out in the old folks home together.” That my first thought was “Please, I hope I do better” indicated that the friendship was probably not going to last, and in fact it didn’t. After he absconded with the girl of my dreams, I seldom saw him again.
It has also been true of much of my time in L.A. that on any given weekend, I can call every person I know, and no-one is home…except, of course, me, not having been invited to anything that all these people are out doing. Similarly, any time I’ve been part of any group or clique, from high school onward, I’ve almost always been on the very outer rim of it, the slightly strange guy no-one really wants to hang with individually.
But this year, my car broke down in the driving rain during rush hour, and I had someone to call who responded immediately. I wanted to get this website up without any knowledge of html, and at least three people volunteered to do it. I have shirts with my initials on them, and people want to buy them. And when New Times LA folded, everyone I know called me, without any prompting, to make sure I was OK. The fact that any of the seasoned journalists at that late great paper give me any respect at all is awe-inspiring, too, given that I had no journalistic credentials when I started there.
This, above all, is what I give thanks for. Also the brief but lovely sex life I had for about a month — I’m very thankful for that, as well as to the female artist I met earlier in the year who gave me a bit of practice first.
I’m thankful for my wonderful younger brother, the only person in years I’ve ever cried to have to leave behind. I’m thankful too for the even younger one, though I don’t yet feel I know him.
I’m thankful that after last year’s horrendous terrorist attack, there has been no equivalent follow-up. I’m thankful I live in a state where Republicans are not voted in and smokers must conceal their habit. I’m thankful I still have a job. I’m thankful that the people I work with respect me.
I’ll be more thankful when I’m finally making movies, of course. But in the meantime, that’s a lot of good stuff up there.
