November 27, 2024

“The future is an infinite succession of presents,
and to live now as we think human beings should live,
in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”
–Howard Zinn

Dear Ones,

I know tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and it is traditional to spend this week cultivating a spirit of gratitude, but I’m finding that a wee bit challenging in some ways this year. (You too? Or maybe not.) Howard Zinn’s reminder that this present moment…plus this one…plus this one and the next, offer almost infinitely renewable opportunities for resistance feels like a reasonable basis for gratitude in this particular moment.

In the sometimes bewildering mix of gratitude (for all that is my life–and it is a rich life!) and dismay (that much of what is good and needful for my life and the lives of my beloveds is increasingly under threat), a reminder to simply live right now as best I can opens up a little breathing space. I don’t generally think in terms of victory and defeat, but the idea of small acts of defiance accomplished daily seems worth exploring and even cherishing.

Yours in love and deep gratitude for the present and its possibilities,

Rev. Denise
RevDenise@gnuuc.org