In this season of thanks I find so many reasons not to be thankful. And yet what I think I am most thankful for is democracy and hope. My grandfather migrated here from Denmark and became a naturalized citizen and then became a Marine and spent his entire life in service of this country. Him and my grandmother started a family in 1929. They raised a family in the great depression through much sacrifice. My grandmother made sure that none of her daughters went to school looking dirty or disheveled. They were all neatly dressed and very well mannered. My aunt Karen my aunt Sonya and my mom were in grade school at a time when they had to do homework by candlelight because San Diego was always under the threat of being bombarded in World War II. My mother decided to start a family in 1959, married a Native American, and raised a family through the civil unrest of the 1960s. My first birthday was the date that Martin Luther King was assassinated. I look at my grandchildren today and I wonder what I will say when they asked me about this time in 2020 that we’re living through today. That in a pandemic we were so insecure that we ran to the store to buy supplies and cheat other people out of what we all need to survive through this time. That we cared so little to follow the lessons of our Lord and Savior, to love thy neighbor , that we couldn’t even wear a mask and didn’t care if others were hurt; just selfish. What I am thankful for is democracy. That this year we looked racism in the face and brought its ugliness out of the darkness to the light. That we chose through voting to make change. That we saw ourselves through the darkest hour of totalitarianism and chose democracy. That we chose to begin to right our wrongs and we will leave it up to the millennials and their children to continue the path to change and healing. The threads that make our family quilts are of patriotism and hope for the future. I am proud to be a part of that and will pass it on to my children.
Thomas Michael Pico
Icarus Wave Publishing
Icarus Wave Publishing 