I feel like I'm thankful for a lot of things despite the stress and worry that the economy has engendered. So I decided that I should just share it with this community, which has been such a part of my life for the past five years.
More over the fold.
My Cats and Animal Rescue
I am thankful for my cats. I have four of them - Rufus, Feats, Meatball & Bella - each a small furry individual, each with his or her own way to let me know that they're glad to see me and to seek me out and comfort me during bad moments or days. They are an infinite source of both entertainment and comfort, and they never fail to let me know that they are - tails vibrating as they wind around my legs - glad to see me no matter how bad a hair day I'm having. :)
I'm thankful also for animal rescuers everywhere and proud to count myself among their ranks. I volunteer with Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation, caring for the residents of a local PetSmart adoption center. It's always such a joy to go in there and meet new cats, comfort the ones that are frightened at their new circumstances and environment, and watch their personalities come through.
I also work with a local coordinator monitoring high kill county and municipal shelters. This is a tougher job, frankly. This economy isn't only taking a toll on the humans - it's trickling down to their companion animals. There has been a rash of "economic surrenders" since the economy went off a cliff. Many people, faced with a situation where they are losing their home and can't take their animals with them, desperately try to seek placement in private, no-kill non-profit rescues for their beloved friends. But the economy is hitting those groups, too. They are short on funds and adoptions have been slower this year and last than previous years. Finding that there's no room at the non-profit inn, they are forced to surrender their animals to a local county shelter. Many county shelters try hard to care for these animals. But they, too, are hit by budget stagnation (best case) or budget cuts (more typical). They can't keep animals as long - and surrendered adult animals are at most risk of being euthanized without ever really having a chance to find a home.
There are, however, a group of people who monitor these shelters and "earmark" animals - particularly the adults - to move them into no-kill rescue when slots are available. We work a list of local rescues - some breed-specific, others just general - to get particularly adult "short timers" out of a situation where they will lose their lives. I help with that, and also with transport out of these shelters. No sound is more beautiful than a car full of 6-8 wailing, meowing cats in carriers as I drive them to their second chance at life and love. Every living creature - human and otherwise - deserves that chance.
I see both sides of the rescue world. Some of it is ugly and brutal - it leaves one's heart devastated, frankly, to look at an animal that was abused, neglected and discarded. It drags the soul down and brings a black cloud to settle over the way everything is seen and perceived. But the flipside is seeing a person coming to look at that animal and seeing in their eyes that they are instantly in love, that they will be patient, and that they, too, know that that animal deserves life and love. To watch that animal go to a new, loving home shows me the brightest side of humanity, a beacon of light to counterbalance the darker side.
If I can, for a moment, wrap up this subject with a plea and some links.
FOSTERING AN ANIMAL SAVES LIVES. Do you have an extra room in your home where you could foster an animal? Fosters are the lifeblood of rescue. The more fosters we have, the more animals we can pull from kill shelters. Many local rescues will provide you with the supplies you need - but if you can swing the cost of food, litter and various toys etc. on your own, the rescue would be eternally grateful. Almost all rescues absolutely cover the vet care and medical needs of cats in their care. All that's really required is that you attend to a foster animal - love it, care for it, spend some time with it. And then, on the weekends, bring your foster animal to adoption events (if the rescue does them) to give them their shot at a loving home.
Don't know who rescues in your area? Use this Petfinder link. Choose your state and nearest city from the list and click "GO". If you can't foster but you can spare a few bucks, use the link above to choose a local organization or organizations and make a donation. While fostering would be my number one plea, donations help, too!!
And finally on this subject - if you're having trouble manaing the cost of caring for an animal of your own or know someone who is, this article from the Humane Society is a good beginning primer on how to begin to address these issues. Even better is this article from the Humane Society. It details nationwide resources for assistance with finances, and further provides state-by-state resources. If you aren't having financial difficulty and have a few bucks to spare, consider donating to one of these organizations that do SO MUCH to help animals in need.
My Job and Co-Workers
There's a lot for me to be thankful for in this subject area. For one, I'm thankful at the rudimentary level that I have a job and that I have maintained one (knock wood) throughout this economic downturn. If you're reading this and you are not as lucky, please know that you are in my thoughts, and I'm sorry that that's all I have to offer.
I've had some pretty bad jobs throughout my career. And as anyone who has been in that circumstance knows, when you have a bad job in a bad economy, you're just stuck in a black hole of badness. You kind of have to shut up and take it. A little more than a year ago, I was in a bad job in a bad economy (still better than what a lot of people are dealing with, I know). A longtime industry friend of mine approached me in the summer of 2009 and asked if we could go for drinks after work one day. I met him at a nice local place, thinking we would just catch up and whatnot. Rather, he showed up and put an offer on the table to me. He wanted me on his team, the sooner the better. We discussed what he would like me to do, what issues there might be, etc.
Long story short, I started with the new company in November of 2009. I have deep respect for everyone in this organization. I was lucky that I knew so many on the management team for years before I came over. But my peers have been a joy as well. I guess it's true that an organization - all the way down the food chain, for the most part - reflects its leadership. And because leadership here is honest and intelligent, that permeates throughout the ranks. I am deeply grateful to my friend who recruited me out of my old job and to everything I've experienced in the year that I've been here. I look forward to many more (knock wood again).
My friends and family
I am, of course, thankful for my friends and family. My parents are here for Thanksgiving, and they're in the process of potentially buying a condo in the area so that they can spend more time here (they lived here throughout their own professional careers and only moved south about ten years ago when they retired). I miss being able to just kind of hang out with my parents on a more normal basis - since they've moved, we always feel the need to cram everything into a few days or a week's worth of time, I would so love to go back to being able to just hang out and not be so frantic about it.
But I'm thankful that it's something they're going to be able to do if they find the right place and that they are young enough and fundamentally healthy so that we can spend that time together.
I'm thankful also for my friends. I have more laughs with my core group of good friends. A few of them in particularly are what I call "on the hand". If you're on the hand, it means you occupy one of the five slots of trust and friendship that correspond to my fingers. It's become a running joke among those both on and not on the hand - but it's also serious. People on the hand are my most trusted advisors. We have long-standing relationships with each other that allow a level of friendship that I consider really pretty special. I am further fortunate that two of the people "on the hand" were also those that brought me over to where I work now - and another one of them is a person whom I've had the joy of working with at four separate places throughout our careers. I work a LOT - so it's good that my good friends are also in my industry and community.
I'm finally thankful for my husband. I'm not the easiest person in the world to deal with, frankly. I'm extremely type A and a high stress operator. Problem is - while I can manage a lot of stress and, frankly, require a certain level of stress to be effective, the line to where it just becomes too much and I'm having an anxiety attack and losing clumps of my hair (no joke) is pretty thin. It doesn't happen all that often (knock wood!), but when it happens, it's major. As with most things with me, "go big or go home" is more than just a saying. That fine line between my stress tipping point and getting things done is a precarious one, and my husband walks it pretty much perfectly and - even better - verbally shakes me into some semblance of sense to prevent me from going over the line.
My husband also just lets me be me. He's in my corner and has my back in everything that has been important to me (even if it wasn't necessarily important to him) during the 17 years we have been together. He seems to have always understood that I need certain things in my life that also take me away from "normal" family time - like canvassing. He didn't see me a single weekend during the 2006, 2008, and 2010 elections. And like animal rescue. He can't go with me when I'm pulling cats from the local county shelter because I need all available room in the car for the cat carriers. :) He's proud that I give my time to these things. He worries that I take it too seriously, but proud nonetheless.
My Presdient
Yes, I'm thankful for President Obama. No, I don't think he's done everything right or done everything I would have liked. Yes, I think he's made mistakes in the past two years (or almost two years). Yes, there are things I would like to see him do that he isn't currently doing. But I'm thankful for him nonetheless - for his intelligence, for his thoughtfulness, for what he's accomplished already, and for what I know he can accomplish moving forward.
I didn't need to see GWB making the rounds with his book interviews to be reminded of just how thankful I am for President Obama - but it sure didn't hurt to see those GWB interviews and remember what a smarmy, black and white, intellectually shallow "bring it on" type he was.
This Community
Yes, each of you.
I joined Daily Kos in late 2004, after the elections, distraught. This wound up being my virtual home when I felt that my frustration would bury me. I've seen a lot here - believe me. Some of it's been bad - Pie fights and arguments, mass bannings, reinstatements, endless and distressingly personal attacks on each other at various points. But I've also seen enormous good. Comminity quilts, diaries to raise money to help a fellow Kossack, diaries of deep compassion and passion, diaries that motivate people to action and to do more than they thought they could, diaries to bring us back together after suffering a blow, you name it. SO MUCH more good than bad - overwhelmingly.
I know sometimes that it's difficult to remember, especially if you disagree with someone - but we also basically gravitated here for the same reason in one form or another. The foundation - our core - gives us SO much more in common than we have differences, I suspect. I realize that that fact seems to have been lost here lately. But if you look at diaries that don't necessarily make the rec list and read the excellent writing in some of these and see the thoughtful and thought-provoking comments they engender, you'll realize that there's actually MUCH more here that's positive than is negative.
And having said that - the negative has its place here as well, however you define "negative". It's important to the discussion, unless it's just over-the-top rude and insulting, and it informs each of our opinions even if we disagree on a visceral level.
So do try to be good to each other, ok?
And if you celebrate, Happy Thanksgiving.
What are you thankful for?