Newsletter: This Thanksgiving, expressing gratitude for L.A.’s critters and care workers

Good morning. I’m Paul Thornton, and it is Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023. Let’s look back at the week in Opinion.

Thanksgiving, once the official start to the holiday season, is now only the sentimental beginning, overtaken by shopping calendars that roll out Christmas, Hanukkah and other holiday merchandise around Halloween. Still, I find Thanksgiving refreshing in that it reminds us to reflect on what we already have, right before we lapse into our season of conspicuous consumption.

So what’s there to be thankful for? Coming up with a list is a deeply personal exercise that requires acknowledging the privileges of a comfortable life and the deprivations of others’. Sitting here in the balmy, plush confines of Los Angeles in November, I’m far away from the anguish and death in places like Gaza, Israel and Ukraine but still shaken by the suffering of my fellow humans. There’s something to be grateful for — comfort and security, what hundreds of millions worldwide painfully lack. Is it OK to acknowledge that?

I’ve already written a piece expressing appreciation for the wild parrots that fill the skies and trees around my home in Alhambra; that’s a gratitude extending to all local critters who make life in Los Angeles a little less predictable and a lot more interesting.

But much of what I’m thankful for in 2023 stems from what I lost this year: my 65-year-old mother, unexpectedly and unmercifully, to brain cancer last August. While I quietly seethe in anger over the universe’s cruelty toward a nurse who cared for some of the poorest women and children in Los Angeles, I also feel an equally strong sense of appreciation for the doctors, nurses, hospice workers and other medical professionals who worked tirelessly to cure her and, when that didn’t work, make her remaining days less excruciating. They didn’t get the reward of a life saved, but they still did the work. I hope they know how grateful I am for that.

I am far from the only grieving Thanksgiving observer to have had an empty chair at the dinner table Thursday. This year, in addition to the appreciation I have for the life my mom lived, I feel deeply grateful to those who experienced similarly painful losses and reached out to offer comfort.

That said, carrying on amid loss and suffering requires acknowledging the small niceties that bring moments of joy and work together to lift and sustain the human spirit. On Thanksgiving Day, the individual members of The Times’ editorial board published a list of those everyday items that make them feel grateful. Here is some of what they said:

Terry Tang, editorial page editor: “In talking to many candidates running for city and county offices in 2024, I saw how much they were moved by a true public spirit. It takes a lot of time and effort to enter a race and run a campaign. You need to set out with a huge dose of optimism — for starters, that your message matters.... It takes candidates such as these, coming from all backgrounds, to build a responsive democracy, and I’m grateful for people like them.”

Robert Greene, editorial writer: “As I shake my fist now at the squirrels that dig up fresh plantings in my garden, I am grateful to their anonymous squirrel forebear who buried an acorn in my yard about a quarter-century ago. It sprouted into what is now a fairly large and attractive but still young coast live oak that drops leaves and acorns that someone someday may gather.”

Carla Hall, editorial writer: “On a stretch of Barrington Avenue in Brentwood, a lean older man walks the sidewalk daily watering the trees and flowers on the sidewalk. He hauls a utility cart filled with a couple of big jugs of water.... Whatever you think of the plastic sunglasses he affixes to plants, I am grateful that he has volunteered to walk the sidewalk day after day taking care of our flora.”

Kerry Cavanaugh, assistant editorial page editor: “It might seem odd to feel gratitude for an airport at the height of holiday travel madness, but I am thankful for Hollywood Burbank Airport. This little gem in the northeast corner of the San Fernando Valley makes flying extraordinarily easy and convenient.”

Mariel Garza, deputy editorial page editor: “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t clear trash from my street, neighborhood or park. (Sadly, L.A’.s pandemic trashiness seems to have stuck too.) A few months ago, after I bent to collect an empty pizza box left in the middle of the sidewalk, a young woman walking past said, ‘Thank you.’ It was jarring and irritated me more than perhaps it should have. I didn’t want her gratitude; I just wanted her — and everyone else — to see that it’s not that hard to step up, too.”

More from this week in opinion

From our columnists

• Jackie Calmes: Can’t convince Uncle MAGA he’s wrong? This Thanksgiving, let Trump’s “best people” do the arguing
• Harry Litman: Trump called the latest 14th Amendment ruling a “victory.” He couldn’t be more wrong
• Robin Abcarian: What Los Angeles freeways, and fires underneath them, teach us about ourselves

From the Op-Ed desk

• Here’s what the mass violence in Gaza looks like to a scholar of genocide
• Gaza’s devastation and Palestine’s future will require a new Marshall plan
• My neighbor’s RV was his home. When someone drove away with it, a grim situation turned dire

From the editorial board

• The 10 Freeway was fixed in days. Why can’t more transportation projects get fast tracked?
• Are pandas headed back to California to work their diplomatic magic?
• Martin Luther King Hospital is in jeopardy. This critical medical facility must get the funding it needs

Letters to the Editor

• Think Israel is too hard on Hamas? Read what was done to innocent Israelis
• 10 Freeway shutdown shows L.A. needs to try something besides car dependence
• Rosalynn Carter shows us that human decency matters in leaders