Listing the goods
Vyckie Garrison has an article at Raw Story about godless people giving thanks.
Amanda Marcotte’s is the first (the list is alphabetical by first name):
I’ve been doing Friendsgiving long before they called it that, and I’m grateful to have such wonderful, loving friends to eat a bunch of food with and to chat about our mutual obsessions without judgment. Oh, and without praying. I’m in my 30s and still have no idea what to do when people are praying.
Mine changes “thankful” to “glad”:
I don’t love the word “thankful” in this context, I suppose because it sounds too personal and who would that person be if not some version of “God”? But I’m very glad to live in a world with…sunsets, rain, music, dogs, cats, chocolate, mountains, oceans, forests, books, art – even the Internet. I’m very glad I live at a time when and in a place where women are allowed to go outside without asking anyone’s permission. I could go on this way forever.
I could, too. I’m glad the brakes worked yesterday afternoon when that massive double-semi abruptly changed lanes right in front of us (Cooper was in the back seat) on Highway 1 outside Carmel. I’m glad those 4 (or more) foxes we encountered on the golf course last night at 10:30 eventually stopped following us. I’m glad my pulse rate is gradually going back down.
Four (or more) foxes! On the golf course? I would have been thrilled to see that! But aren’t foxes solitary animals? Surely, they don’t hunt together the way dogs do?
From what I have read foxes often hang out in small family/social groups, but hunting together doesn’t happen except for a vixen with cubs. I haven’t found any reports of a fox attacking humans, except when corned, defending young or themselves, or when sick (rabid). So, you were probably safe Ophelia!
Maybe Chris Clarke knows more?
I’m grateful for human things.
I’m grateful people work at agriculture so I don’t have to. All of civilization depends on this. I’ve had years where I helped grow the majority of the food for my family, and it wasn’t fun. So I thank Jesus and all the other agricultural workers.
I’m grateful to my parents for all they’ve done for me over the years.
I’m grateful to my loved ones in general for their ability to let my flaws slide.
I’m grateful to society for opportunities I’ve had, such as college.
I’m grateful for improved access to medical care Thanks, Obama!).
I’m even grateful a certain blogger dug in her heels when doctrinal purity was being forced on her and I found the opportunity to discuss gender issues without having to be stuffed in a box.
I’m grateful for the people who react to social problems with courage and compassion.
Harald – I was very thrilled at first. Then their total lack of shyness disconcerted me a little, then their staying with us made me quite nervous. (Cooper’s humans had just told me a story about a raccoon [with kits] going after him last summer.) I wasn’t terrified, but I was uneasy.
Rob – that’s my assumption with pretty much all animals except bears. But it was just so odd that they stayed with us instead of veering off or stopping. But now I think of it they just kept going the way they’d been headed, more or less. They just didn’t have any fucks to give about us.
Maybe they’re just totally habituated with humans. A bit like the stories I’ve read about coyotes riding the subway.
Samantha, that’s a great list (although ‘thankfully’ I’m free of US healthcare).
Raccoons have a nasty streak when it comes to other animals sometimes. I took care of a stray cat that had (neighbors knew her history) ran away from home when the raccoons got into the apartment where she and some dogs were– the dog/raccoon fight was so bad it wrecked some furniture and scared the cat so much she didn’t feel safe anymore.
I read about a fox that lived in Boston that learned to watch the traffic lights and crossed the street in the crosswalks at the right time. Some of them adapt very well to coexistence with humans. I guess since Cooper didn’t seem aggressive, they felt safe.
Raccoons are just straight-up aggressive animals. I like watching them from a distance (they’re abundant in the Seattle nabe where I live), but I’m always very careful not to approach them or appear to approach them.
One of the very first things I was taught when I started working at the Zoo was the concept of flight distance. Different animals have different ones, and the bottom line is just assume a big one; in other words, don’t approach a wild animal, no matter how tame you may think it is. Never ever cut off an animal’s only escape route (unless of course you’re trained, have equipment, etc).
Oh and hahaha Cooper did seem aggressive – I was alerted to their presence when he lunged at them, and then barked frenziedly while straining against the leash. WOOFWOOFWOOFWOOF and they were just “Meh – bark away, dog, there are four of us and one of you.”
I once caused an enormous falling-out between my family and the owners of the farm next door. I was probably about ten. They had somehow caught a fox and had it chained up to a kennel and I stole in one night and let it go. I still have the scar from when it bit my wrist as I was taking the collar off. I don’t blame it,
It wasn’t the first time I was confronted by the profound cruelty of otherwise good people, but it certainly made an impression. The family were livid that their trophy had been taken away. That’s all the fox was to them. Thinking about that decades later still makes me sad.
I’ve never before heard of foxes following people (or dogs) but unusual fox behaviour isn’t….well…. unusual. Urban foxes do things rural foxes wouldn’t, for example. They’re adaptable, opportunistic, shy as a rule, bold when it suits them.
I spent a decent portion of my youth tracking and watching foxes and badgers. They’re a delight. But I’m sure I’d be disconcerted if a group of them followed me. I’m paranoid enough without foxes ganging up on me.
Well done.