Thanksgiving

It has become such a cliché to say that we have so much to be thankful for on Thanksgiving that many people have stopped paying attention. Truth is, I really do feel that way. Though I complain and criticize at the slightest provocation, and frequently with no provocation at all, I really am pretty fortunate in a lot of pretty important ways. So here is an annual thank you, to everyone and to no one in particular. I am thankful for J.’s being a part of my life – even with all she and I have gone through, I wouldn’t have it any other way. For my friends who put up with my antics and who, even though sometimes I have to beg and cajole and bombard them with e-mail, always come through when it’s important. For friends who trekked down from faraway places to celebrate J.’s and my wedding, even though by most standards, it was a tiny affair. For friends who never fail to send me a birthday card even though we have not seen each other in several years. For my parents, who have always supported me, frequently at a sacrifice to themselves, and despite my best efforts to subvert that support. For being in a place where I can live and work and write largely undisturbed. Sure, I love catastrophizing about the state of our society as much as the next guy, but any other society would be infinitely worse. So there. Thank you all and sundry. Next time my kvetching gets too much, please remind me of all of this. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Etiquette quandary

I am seeking advice from my paltry readership (paltry in quantity, certainly not in quality). What is the proper response when someone I know has a terrible tragedy in their life and I find out about it through that person's blog? This is not a close friend, but somewhat more than a casual acquaintance, I would say. I know the person enough to send a Christmas or a birthday card, though we have not seen each other in quite some time now. What, if anything, is the appropriate thing to do? Do I send a sympathy card? Or would that be presumptuous because I did not get the news directly? A sympathy e-mail? A comment on the original blog entry? That seems far less than the occasion calls for. I would greatly appreciate any advice.

Vote

My initial comment about the importance of voting was going to be something along the lines of having an ethical responsibility to do it because we can, and the vast majority of people in the world can't, etc., but so far that argument has moved people less than I expected. But I got into a conversation with a colleague recently. The colleague is a dedicated anarchist, in the sense that he believes that government has no purpose (not even a minimal purpose as I believe) and that all spheres of human endeavor, including criminal justice, are best handled privately. It is a fascinating viewpoint, far better researched and supported than one might assume, but that's a topic for another day. The relevant point here is that he does not vote for the obvious reason that the concept of voting is meaningless to him. One of the things we got to discussing is how, starting with an imperfect but functional democracy such as ours, a system of the sort he advocates could come about. Discounting instant and total consensus (really a form of a unanimous vote), we agreed on two possibilities – violent revolution, and democratic process. I don't think I need to remind anyone how I feel about violent revolutions and why. The democratic process, on the other hand, could be used to abolish itself, annul the Constitution and dissolve the US government. In other words, his system could be brought about by a vote. Conclusion: go vote tomorrow, even if you believe it is meaningless or would prefer a world where voting is unnecessary. Philosophical principles are at stake.