Turkey Day

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I come from a large family and as mention on my Aunt’s BlahBlahBlog we have had our fair share of thanksgiving cooking disasters. Yes, that would be my mom in the “Sauerkrat Disaster” photo sporting the awesome 90s hairdo and cotton overall ensemble (sorry mom). Minus the cooking disasters in my families past, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because it is an excuse for all 16 members of my extended family to fly from California, New York, and Boston to all be together if only for just 24 hours. Every year it’s the same routine: the men play football (the fathers get hurt), my mom and aunts do the cooking, we fight over which movie to see (this year its either War Horse or The Descendents, or both) and at dinner we do that cheesy thing where we go around and say what we are thankful for. While I am not openly a fan of such cheesy things – this also includes cheers, I hate cheers. Lately I have come to look forward to hearing what everyone is thankful for, so in spirit of this holiday where thousands of turkeys are killed for people to celebrate American dominance, I thought I’d tell I’d discuss a few things I am hoping to be thankful for in the upcoming year…

I would be ever so thankful if Republicans would stop attacking Planned Parenthood. According to CNN Planned Parenthood is 90% preventative. Therefore if Rep. Mike Pence gets support in his campaign to cut federal funding of this organization because he does not support abortions, in actuality this bill would be detrimental for both “women's health and bad for the fiscal health of the country.” Regardless of ones opinions on abortions the fact that Planned Parenthood provides affordable cancer screening, birth control, treatment and testing for STD’s makes the organization important enough to keep around.

Another thing that I would be thankful for would be peace in Egypt. These protests in Tahrir Square have lasted for too long and have been without justice for the citizens of Egypt. A movement that was sparked by social media worldwide has been much more difficult than expected and the number of deaths reported in the news have been catastrophic. Most recently as the protestors make a wall around the Interior Ministry protestors have been killed as the police created a buffer zone. While the generals did offer an apology for these deaths, according to The New York Times the Egyptian Government has refused to delay elections. The disparity between the people and the government occurring in Egypt seems to be without an inevitable end or resolution and this is deeply troubling.

While I can’t help but hope for these two not so small matters to come to a favorable end in the next year I also am aware of the many blessings that exist currently in my life and in America and for that I am truly thankful. And who knows, maybe I will look back on this thanksgiving 20 years from now and make cracks about the outfit I was wearing…