Arlo Guthrie, the great folk singer and composer of “Alice’s Restaurant,” says a lot of what I want to say better than I can:
I urge everyone, here and abroad to show respect and gratitude to these nameless young people. Talk about them in the coffee shops and luncheonettes with friends and neighbors. They are the heroes of a new generation. They will be vilified and slandered by those who have the most to lose. But, their courage and conviction is exactly right and appropriate. They need all the support they can get as they push us forward as a civilization toward a more perfect union. And they will succeed. Slowly and inevitably they will push us into the light of a better world. The signs are all around us. There is a great hope and a wonderful dream shared by countless generations of good people inching forward through history. It will burst like a dam upon those who try to hold it back. Resistance is indeed, futile.
The coffee is cold, the frozen rain keeps falling. But, inside there is a flame which seems to get brighter. It flickers at the edge of my thoughts though I sit alone. And I send my prayers and salutations to others around the world on this day… The day before we here in the USA celebrate the things for which we are most thankful. This year, I am not only thankful but hopeful and excited. –Arlo Guthrie, “Occupy Thanksgiving, Merry Everything“
This year I am grateful for the restored hope that the Occupy movement has given me. Already we succeed — we’ve made hundreds of thousands of people move their money from banks, introduced tools like consensus and the human microphone to new people, and changed discourse on a national level about topics like corporate bailouts and police brutality. And we’re still growing. Whatever happens tomorrow, I am proud of what we have done through today, and grateful.
I’m also grateful to all the ways I love my life. I’m grateful for my family — both biological and chosen. I have two wonderful girlfriends, Pet and Mizz Honey J, and got to enjoy a wonderful meal with both, my friend Gyesika, and Honey’s parents today. I’m grateful for the wonderful home I share, Avocasa, with my wonderful housemate Kristen. I’m grateful for my whole Burning Man tribe, and for my cat, even if she’s frumious.
I’m grateful people keep sending me sex toys and I promise not to let revolution keep me from reviewing them forever (got a couple I’m working on now). I’m grateful write, and to get paid to write.
In closing, I’ll echo the words I posted on OccupyBurners a few moments ago: Be Safe, Be Strong, Be Satiated. Be excellent to each other, and keep the fires lit.
