Columnist Andrea Ayvazian: An honest, from-the-heart list of thank you’s – GazetteNET

Last November, as Thanksgiving approached, I wrote a column that included a rather random list of things I was grateful for. I usually do not respond well to those kinds of lists, often found on Hallmark cards, so I tried to make my list authentic, not sappy or sentimental.

I am grateful for many, many things in my life, in our community, and in the world. So this year, I am turning last year’s one-time column into what might become a tradition. (If I receive a flood of messages from readers that say, “It’s dumb, never do that again,” it will not become a tradition.)

Here, then, is an honest, from-the-heart list of thank you’s. Please note, my list is not exhaustive, nor is it in any significant order, but it is sincere.

Let me start by saying: Thank you, reader, for continuing to read.

Thank you to all teachers in all grades in all schools in all cities everywhere.

Thank you David Narkewicz for your leadership during some very hard times.

Thank you to all clergy for serving, supporting, and leading your faith communities during these difficult past two years.

Thank you to the lawyers, jury, and everyone else who helped put Derrick Chauvin behind bars.

Thank you to all employers who provide adequate paid family leave to their employees. And thank you to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg for his fine modeling and smart retorts when criticized for his own paternity leave.

Thank you to my neighbors who are still gathering on porches and in backyards on lawn chairs to offer one another support.

Thank you for independent bookstores.

Thank you for the Special Olympics.

Thank you to all firefighters.

Thank you to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, flawed but decent people.

Thank you to Dr. Jill Biden for being gracious and sane.

Thank you to Douglass Emhoff, second gentleman of the United States, for being second and gentlemanly.

Thank you to all our mail carriers and newspaper delivery persons.

Thank you for Childs Park.

Thank you to all out gay, lesbian and Trans athletes.

Thank you for Ibram X. Kendi, Sanjay Gupta, Greta Thunberg, Amanda Gorman, Jo Comerford, LeBron James, and Liz Cheney.

Thank you for the Breath Prayer.

Thank you to all dog owners who leash their dogs.

Thank you for the changing seasons because the seasons still change.

Thank you to Bernie Sanders for continuing to be both outraged and hopeful.

Thank you for the River Valley Co-op, now in Easthampton too.

Thank you for Rachel Maddow.

Thank you for the COVID vaccination pop-up clinic that appeared in Pulaski Park this fall.

Thank you to everyone who voted on Nov. 2. Thank you to those who voted for the first time.

Thank you for the Alden Baptist Church and St. Mark’s Armenian Church, both in Springfield.

Thank you to every person who believes in science, and to everyone who does not make up their own facts.

Thank you to Nancy Pelosi for being steely.

Thank you to every professional conference that cancels their plans to meet in Texas.

Thank you to my husband, Michael Klare, for trying tirelessly to prevent nuclear war between the USA and China.

Thank you to this community for all acts of kindness, for being unfailingly generous, for finding ways to cling to hope, for lifting prayers, and for imagining a world transformed. Thank you for the deep goodness in your weary hearts. Thank you friends and neighbors. Bless you all.

The Rev. Dr. Andrea Ayvazian of Northampton is an associate pastor at Alden Baptist Church in Springfield. She is also the founder and director of the Sojourner Truth School for Social Change Leadership.

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