March 29, 2024

Thanks

Nov. 20, 2015

We’ve plenty to be thankful for in northern Michigan. There are natural wonders, amenities and opportunities aplenty.

Here in Traverse City we should be thankful for the Dennos Museum, the State Theatre, the National Writer’s Series, the Traverse City Film Festival, the National Cherry Festival, the Old Towne Playhouse, the City Opera House, the Comedy Festival, the Open Space, Northwestern Michigan College and the Maritime Academy and all the other festivals we enjoy all year. And the bikes lanes and TART trail.

But it’s the people for whom we should be most thankful, those we know and those we don’t.

Let’s start with the men and women who brought our friends and families home for the holiday. to the pilots, first officers, flight attendants, baggage handlers, ground crews, mechanics and reservationists.

While we’re at it, let’s thank chefs, cooks, servers, dishwashers, table bussers and the folks bold enough to own and operate the places where we like to eat.

Let’s not forget doctors, interns, residents, physician assistants, nurses, nurses’ aides, and technologists of all sorts.

Thank you, especially, to everyone who volunteers at anything.

We should also be thankful for the farmers, ranchers, farmworkers, and fieldhands who plant, grow, raise, produce and harvest our local food bounty. And the clerks, shelfstockers and floor polishers where we buy it.

Not to mention superintendents, principals, teachers, teacher aides, custodians, food service workers and those brave souls who drive school buses.

We can be proud of and thankful for sailors, soldiers, pilots, marines, generals and privates, admirals and seaman recruits.

That goes double for the men and women of Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City who are so willing to help us out of trouble when we do something stupid out on the big water. We are thankful you are here.

We can’t ignore lumberjacks and wildcatters and riggers.

Plus city police officers, county sheriff ’s deputies, state police officers and the alphabet soup of federal law enforcement agencies. Which leads us to judges, prosecutors, public defenders, litigators, court clerks, bailiffs and court reporters.

We should also include, of course, fire fighters, paramedics and EMTs.

And athletes coaches, managers, trainers, assistants and even refs and umps.

We can’t forget carpenters, framers, roofers, concrete workers, electricians, plumbers, drywall hangers, tilers, HVAC folks, ironworkers, steelworkers, painters and bricklayers.

Not to mention geologists, archeologists, paleontologists, hydrologists, seismologists, meteorologists, physicists, astrophysicists, biologists, botanists, chemists, astronomers, rocket scientists and all the other scientists who solve problems, fight diseases and expand our reach in, and understanding of, the world and universe in which we live.

Plus novelists, non-fiction writers, screenwriters, playrights, producers, directors, cinematographers, sound and lighting technicians, editors, actors and all the others who help entertain us. And the reporters, editors, producers, camera operators, publishers and the rest who help inform us.

And haircutters, hair dyers, hair curlers, hair stylists and nail polishers.

Though often targets of our ire, we should be thankful for city commissioners, county commissioners, legislators, members of Congress, presidents, presidential wannabes and all candidates and elected officials who have the courage of their convictions sufficient to put their names on a ballot.

A special thanks to Goodwill, the Salvation Army, the Father Fred Foundation, St.

Vincent de Paul, Habitat for Humanity, the Womens’ Resource Center, local churches providing Safe Harbor shelter to the homeless and all the other organizations, large and small, helping our most at risk neighbors.

Thanks, too, to the big rig drivers, delivery truck drivers, snow plow drivers, cab drivers, auto mechanics, truck mechanics, train engineers, train conductors and ships’ captains.

We can’t forget civil engineers, nautical engineers, automotive engineers. aeronautical engineers, electrical engineers, architects, designers and everyone who helps create and make things work.

And assembly line workers and gadget and appliance fixers. Plus salespeople of all manner. And the intrepid souls who try valiantly to keep our streets in good repair.

Even butchers and bakers and candlestick makers.

Every day we pass people on the street who do something that contributes to our lives in some way. That we unknowingly pass by doesn’t mean we aren’t thankful.

Finally, thanks much to all the readers, commenters, correctors, criticizers and agreers.

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