Brian Fishman If you want a stock "thank you
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Thanksgiving has come and past with its usual cacophony of food,
drink and family. Inevitably, in the midst of a swirl of family
members concerned about my future and old friends from high school
looking to catch up on whatever it is that they and I have been
doing since heading off for college, the central principles of
Thanksgiving slipped through the cracks. Though such relationships
are obviously integral, there is much to be thankful for that is
not family and friends. I am thankful for the ideas below, maybe
you should be too.
The Florida Supreme Court. While many Americans were sick and
tired of the Presidential contest immediately following the
election day confusion; I am thankful for the confusion, the debate
over “chad,” and, most of all, the Florida Supreme
Court.
Democracy is, by design, a messy system of governance. People
make mistakes, they disagree, they argue, but eventually decisions
get made and the parties move on. This election has been the
penultimate in “messy” governance, but it has also put
on display the tremendous power of the American system and its
ability to triumph over a controversy like that in Florida. And
while shortsighted Americans complain that an election should not
be influenced by the courts, let us not forget that only several
months ago a disputed election led to civil war in Sierra Leone and
a fraudulent election in Peru put a dictatorial demagogue in
power.
Our system has courts, not guns, and I am thankful for it.
Ralph Nader’s useless presidential candidacy. Despite his
lack of policy, his inability to compromise at all and his
pigheaded tromp into the oddest presidential election in American
history, Ralph deserves some thanks. He made us once again question
the two-party system, he forced us to think about the similarities
between the big-two candidates, and he gave us ever more reason to
resist fringe candidacies without any plan for action. Ralph was
grassroots, he was politics at its vehement best, he wasn’t
backing down. And whatever else he did, he made things more
interesting. And, in all honesty, when was the last really
interesting presidential race? Bill Clinton vs. Bob Dole? Bill
Clinton vs. George Bush?
Alan Greenspan. For better or worse, the Federal Reserve
chairman gets a lot of credit for the United States’ healthy
economy. As I will be in the job market sooner rather than later, a
healthy economy seems like a good thing.
Not living in Israel. Whether you are Jewish or Palestinian,
living in Israel right now is not a good idea. Somebody wants to
kill you. That is stress that nobody needs; I am glad I am not one
of those unlucky enough to be subject to such horror.
Rockets, machine guns, bombs, tanks and war are words that
Americans read in the newspaper, and that Israelis, Palestinians,
Columbians, Chechens, Ugandans and a plethora of others use to
describe their daily environments. Not worrying about such things
on a daily basis is definitely worth being thankful for.
The UCLA football team. All right, so they aren’t going to
win a national championship this year. But for four years I have
watched, if not always the most successful football team (on or off
the field) in the country, certainly the most interesting. Since
1997 they have won the games they should have lost and lost the
games they should have won. They have been frustrating (again, on
and off the field) and exciting. Some have called football
“controlled chaos,” but I’m not so sure.
BruinWalk. Never have I had the opportunity to do so many things
I didn’t want to do. Forty-seven Korean Christian
Organizations, 12 Jewish Identity Awareness Wakefulness
Consciousness Movements for Togetherness, 11 Student Super-saver
Money-maker cards and 9 Socialist organizations bent on world
indoctrination through the complacent offering of week-old
newspapers. Options galore! Still, BruinWalk is the essence of
college ““ taken as a whole, it is loud, opinionated and
youthful. It is a place where ideas are shared and that is why I
love it.
My car. This is my fourth year at UCLA, but my first as a Los
Angeleno. I got a car. It’s not much of a car, but I have
discovered LA freeways in it. Thus it is a veritable green card as
a legally admitted resident to the Kingdom of Los Angeles.
Unfortunately, three years in LA without a car is about as useful
as three years in Montana without a plane ticket home ““ in
both cases you’re wasting a lot of time. And while this could
be resolved if city planners in this great City of Angels would get
their heads out of the clouds and turn it into the City of
Easy-to-use-Buses, that is not the case. As such, my car is
definitely something for which to be thankful.
Graduation. As much as graduating scares me to death because it
means that I will have to make use of Mr. Greenspan’s healthy
economy, it is also a welcome marker of completion, a token for all
the hard work done to get this far. Whether I deserve it or not, I
am thankful for it.
The UCLA philosophy department. There is nothing so wonderful as
being utterly confused and then making an insight into a problem,
finding a way around a seemingly insurmountable predicament. Thus,
the philosophy department deserves thanks for repeatedly driving me
up the wall and then, every once in a while, slipping me a nugget
of truth and a truckload of satisfaction with an escape from the
questions that we all should ask more often.
When all is said and done, there are countless things to be
thankful for this year, none as important as the standbys ““
family and friends. In fact, these are the prisms through which
other mementos of the times hold value. Without such relationships,
would philosophy be so fulfilling? No. Not without anyone to debate
with. Would transportation be such a blessing? No. Not without
anyone to visit. Would the Florida Supreme Court be valuable? No.
Not unless they are protecting the rights of your loved ones. Would
a strong economy be significant? No. Not unless people you care
about depend on their jobs.
There is much to be thankful for this year that we don’t
often consider. But let us not forget the lens which makes
thankfulness meaningful ““ care for each other.