Just One Of Those Thanksgivings, Part 1

When it rains, it pours, etc etc etc. Here's how my Thanksgiving is going this year:

1. As I've mentioned in an earlier post, my 80-year-old Mom is literally on her deathbed at my parents' home in Illinois, there with my hard-of-hearing hard-of-seeing Greatest Generation World War II Wounded Veteran Father.
2. This past Saturday my wife sufferred a heart attack and is in Intensive Care in the hospital.
3. My blood sugar was too high, so I'm starting on yet another prescription medication.
4. My wheelchair-bound handicapped son can't go to his daycare because the bus transport company says he needs another armrest on his wheelchair. Now this wheelchair has only ever had one armrest since it was built, but only right now it has become an issue.
5. The aforementioned wheelchair-bound handicapped son has had trouble getting to sleep the past couple of nights. Since he can't talk, it's hard to know exactly why. Maybe he misses his Mom.
6. And now to top it all off, I've got the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee mad at me for the Coexist bumper sticker parody. You can read all about it over at Charlie Sykes' blog.

So how's your Thanksgiving going?

While I'd love to answer all the charges raised by the Interfaith Conference, I'll have to leave most of the heavy lifting to Charlie and my fellow travelers. But I would like to raise just one point.

Groups like the Interfaith Conference and people such as those who put Coexist bumper stickers on their cars are always telling us we must engage in "meaningful dialog" with our adversaries. It just so happens that my blog has a comments feature (as does Charlie's blog) which allows such dialog to occur. As I write this, my Coexist post has had 23 comments added to it. Some people agree with me, some don't. It's pretty easy to get started adding your comments. All you need to do is to write something like this:

Hey Tom, I really think you're full of crap here.

And go ahead and add your reasons for thinking so, if you want. I don't delete comments just for disagreeing with me. But you might want to be prepared to defend your position against other commenters who will disagree with you. You can respond to their responses, and so on and on until everybody's had their say. Good old Town Hall America give-and-take. Democracy at its best. America at its best. Coexisting at its best. I'm looking forward to seeing you there.

Comments

[Nicole]

The coexist thing was hilarious - that Marcus guy was probably ticked off because he has one of the original bumper stickers. May God bring much more peace and many more blessings to your family this Thanksgiving than you expect.

[Pete Fanning]

Many Thanksgiving Blessings to you and yours Tom, and well wishes for everyone...

[John McAdams]

Condolences and the very best wishes to you, Tom.

Things will get better, and a lot of people out here are rooting for you, and for your family members.

[elliot]

I'm sorry, Tom.