Up & Coming Weekly

December 01, 2020

Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.

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WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM DECEMBER 2-8, 2020 UCW 5 OPINION MARGARET DICKSON, Columnist. COMMENTS? Editor@ upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. anksgiving 2020, more than many others, brought not only food for the body but food for the mind. As my small group of immediate family gath- ered, we opened all the doors and windows and stayed outside as much as we could. We dispensed with long held traditions, tucking into fried chicken instead of roasted turkey and dressing. I missed anksgivings of my child- hood at my grandparents' house, filled with wonderful smells and swarming with cousins. I missed anksgivings with my own family and those we think of as family, tables laden with potluck foods from many different households and traditions. I missed those who were not with us because they are no longer here, and those who could not be with us because of the pandemic raging unchecked throughout our nation. At the same time, I am deeply grateful for those who were at our table and for our health, for friends from all parts of my life who con- tinue to enrich the world in so many different ways, and for vaccines on the horizon to shut down the plague of 2020. I am thankful for the bone-tired health care workers who continue to care for their fellow Americans, some of whom believe COVID-19 is a hoax and who refuse to take precautions. And, I pray the families and friends of the more than 262,000 Americans who have died from COVID-19 will find peace and hope in the coming days. I am thankful for all Americans that democ- racy has prevailed over authoritarianism in our nation. It is hardly news that the United States has become critically hardened and partisan, with people in both camps barely understanding what the other says, rendering our nation a political Tower of Babel. ere are many rea- sons for this — the growing divide between the haves and the have-nots, educational dispari- ties, niche media which preach to their own choirs among them. is intolerance among Americans continues to damage our nation and our standing in the world. at is why I and millions of others are pro- foundly thankful for the brave and principled Americans who did the right thing in recent weeks, who despite heavy political pressure put country before party. ey deserve rec- ognition. Among them are elections officials in many states who stood up for and certified unbiased, untainted and accurate voting totals despite unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud, of which no proof has been cited. In addition, both state and federal judges in several states dismissed such unsupported legal claims, allowing accurate vote counts to prevail. Only a handful of politicians showed such courage, notably Utah's Senator Mitt Romney, who stood up for a fair election, when most others, including North Carolina's two Senators, apparently checked their spines in a Capitol closet. It is meaningful to note that Abraham Lin- coln established our American anksgiving. It harkens back a meal shared, at least apocry- phally, by Pilgrim settlers and Native Ameri- cans in what is now Massachusetts in 1621. e official holiday itself dates from 1863, when Lincoln declared a national day of anksgiv- ing. He did so in the midst of the American Civil War, at a time when the tide was slowly turning in favor of the Union. e next year, he proclaimed another day of anksgiving, writ- ing that God "has been please to animate and inspire our minds and hearts with fortitude, courage, and resolution sufficient for the great trial of the civil war into which we have been brought by our adherence to the cause of free- dom and humanity, and to afford us reason- able hopes of an ultimate and happy deliver- ance from all our dangers and afflictions." In other words, Lincoln established anks- giving to celebrate the America's democracy. We celebrate the same blessing in 2020. Thanksgiving postmortem by MARGARET DICKSON ere is much to be grateful for even as we adjust family holiday traditions during the pandemic. WFAYcountry.com WFAY is Fayetteville's 100.1% Christmas Station. All Christmas…All The Time through the holidays. Merry Christmas from our family to yours Jeff and Christy "Sweet Tea" Andrulonis

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