The Power of Gratitude
Because of the election, Thanksgiving 2024 may be more painful than in some years past, but gratitude can empower your resolve.
Time to turkey-trot out a timely gratitude column. I often extol the benefits of gratitude. It may have come later in life, but I have learned that simply being thankful is a nearly impenetrable shield from life’s blows. It’s a superpower. No wonder Thanksgiving is my second favorite holiday after New Year’s Eve.
Most LGBTQ Americans are probably not feeling particularly grateful ahead of this year’s feasting. According to polling commissioned by the Human Rights Campaign, we voted for Vice President Kamala Harris over President-elect Donald Trump by an 84-14 margin.
So, what’s there to be particularly grateful for as we watch the Gilded Age 2.0 billionaire class line up behind a guy who’s already shown us how little he cares for democracy? As even the popular vote has apparently nudged into the Trump column?
I’m sure I can find something. For the sake of my sanity, I’d better.
First, that popular vote win — with, as I write, votes still being counted — is not remarkable. It’s more of a tilt than tipping over. The country is so very split, with possibly a handful more voting for Trump this month.
Next month, Americans might feel differently. We’re absurdly fickle, though I can’t for the life of me figure out how someone might have voted for the Biden/Harris ticket four years ago flipped to a now-convicted felon who refused to honor the peaceful transfer of power and whose brand has gotten even more hateful and bonkers. Or voted for progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Trump.
But that’s democracy, I suppose. Messy, messy, messy. Still, so much better than the competing brands of Chinese digital authoritarianism or Russian thugocracy. Let’s hope we can hold on to it.
Harris won more votes than the entire population of France or the UK. Trump got fewer votes than the population of Germany. I suppose that’s small consolation, considering the Trump train also ran through the Senate and the House. Just like his first time around in 2016. This time, with a more supportive Supreme Court on Day 1, fewer guardrails, and an Emperor Palpatine-inspired call for retribution.
Staaaaahp! Back to gratitude!
Looking at that slight win, reflective of our very divided country, I am so grateful for the Harris and Gov. Tim Walz campaign. Though they fell short of winning, they inspired such an enthusiastic outpouring of love and joy across the country.
From my years living in Florida, The Villages retirement community always appeared a ruby-red conservative castle. That the Harris/Walz team could motivate hundreds of The Villages residents to form a golf-cart parade in support surprised and delighted me.
My jaw dropped on Oct. 29 as I observed the massive crowd that had made its way to the Ellipse for a Harris rally. The campaign’s estimate of 75,000 strikes me as a bit of an undercount as I recall just a portion of the overflow crowd filling all the lanes of 15th Street NW for blocks into the distance, farther than I could see.
Across the country, the Harris/Walz campaign shined a light on American goodness, on what actually makes us great. I’ll be forever grateful for getting to witness their righteous campaign.
I’m grateful we still have our Constitution, guaranteeing freedom of speech. While this means Trump could say, during their debate, Harris “put out,” it also means that I can write that he’s the king of the dipshits.
At least, I think I can still write that. Once back in office, could he decree with immunity that I’m not showing ample reverence and have the Secret Service break my ribs as a “presidential act“? In that regard, I am also grateful to be little more than a minor mediocrity, a pile of small potatoes, unlikely to ever distract any resident of the White House.
Not to seem morose, but I’m grateful to be 55. From being born the weekend of the Stonewall Riots to now, I explain my mortality to younger people as being akin to their phones having only 20 percent of battery left. And there’s no recharging me.
I’m thankful my mortality gives me some comfort. I’m thankful that I’ve had a rich life that can’t be taken from me. Granted, while I’m grateful to have already arrived at my future, I am simultaneously baffled how anyone with their kids’ futures to think of would vote for the guy using climate change as little more than a punchline. Already forgot Hurricane Helene?
When it comes to looking decades into the future, I am grateful for U.S. Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, divine Democrat of Delaware. Having profiled her for Metro Weekly in 2012 as she was publicly coming out as transgender, I’ve watched her career with awe. It’s thrilling that her recent win secures her a spot in history, well beyond already serving as a Delaware state senator.
McBride is one of the clean spots on this grimy election, forever to be known as the first out trans person to serve in Congress. South Carolina GOP Rep. Nancy Mace, meanwhile, has secured her place in history as the bigot greeting McBride’s win with a hateful, petty push to bar McBride from congressional women’s rooms. Times change and congressional bigotry adapts.
Nevertheless, I could not be more grateful for the spirit of competence, kindness, and determination McBride embodies. I’m gratified knowing that she has already done great things, and will do ever greater things on a larger stage for years to come. Dover’s loss is the country’s gain.
Returning to the nearer future, I’m grateful D.C. is the host city for World Pride 2025. A Harris win would have made this global event a monumental celebration for America’s first woman president. Oh, that would’ve been grand. Perhaps it’s more crucial, however, to be hosting World Pride as protest as much as celebration. With the GOP using our trans comrades as sacrificial scapegoats during this election, I’m so grateful our global LGBTQ-and-allies parade is already scheduled. With Project 2025’s bigotry locked and loaded, salivating at its chance to diminish the Queer community at the federal level, I’m heartened knowing that in a few months — about an eighth of the way till the end of Trump’s term, quarter of the way to midterms — we’ll be reveling on Pennsylvania in the shadow of the Capitol. It will be glorious.
Thanksgiving 2024 may be more painful than in some years past, but gratitude has the power to dull its sharpest edges, even to empower. There is absolutely strength in gratitude. I’m thankful I figured that out before my battery got to zero.
Will O’Bryan is a former Metro Weekly managing editor, living in D.C. with his husband. He is online at www.LifeInFlights.com.
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