Hi. It’s time for Thanksday! But first, here’s some science about gratitude that I spent tens of seconds researching. “Expressing gratitude is associated with a host of mental and physical benefits. Studies have shown that feeling thankful can improve sleep, mood and immunity. Gratitude can decrease depression, anxiety, difficulties with chronic pain and risk of disease.”
It's Thurs Thanksday!
Today I’m grateful for voting. If you live in Ohio, or near Ohio, or in the US, you’re probably aware that we had a vote that was kind of a big deal on Tuesday. Technically, it was a vote to make it harder to change the state constitution. But everyone knows it was really about the upcoming vote to change the constitution regarding access to abortion procedures. The issue failed. Now, I’m not going to opine on the particular issues at hand. I don’t need to. Instead, I just want to say I’m thankful for the messiness of the system.
That’s not usually like me. I like order. I like clarity. I like systems that flow without extra work or duplication of effort. In most areas of life, I’m pretty content to let qualified and accountable leaders just make decisions. But government, and the politics that go with it, are different. The interests are too diverse. The population can’t be taken for granted. You still have to persuade people. In Ohio, the same population that put the legislators in office, at least in several instances I can remember, has soundly rejected their ideas. That’s the way it goes. You have to do more than think up an idea. You have to convince people to like it.
So finding the way forward can be a little messy and a lot of work. It requires negotiation. And that’s…fine. What would you rather have, someone wise to make people agree on what’s in the best interests of all the people? That’s a little problematic. It doesn’t go well. (Also see here.) So, until someone actually worthy of ruling people comes, I’ll take messy. It’ll be OK.
OK friends, this is a gratitude post, not a complaining post. So, I’d love to read your thoughts, but let’s keep things positive and optimistic!