Where I Stand:

A reason to give thanks in the time of coronavirus

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Carolyn Kaster / AP

President-elect Joe Biden’s climate envoy nominee former Secretary of State John Kerry speaks at The Queen theater, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020, in Wilmington, Del.

Sun, Nov 29, 2020 (2 a.m.)

A time for thanksgiving.

What has always been a favorite holiday for many Americans, yours truly included, was marred this year by the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic changed dramatically the way we could enjoy this normally great time for the celebration of family.

Notwithstanding the nation’s airports full of travelers intent on risking everything of importance to share a meal with family and friends, the vast majority of Americans heeded science and the facts and stayed at home. They chose to visit their families for many years to come rather than tempt a virus that apparently thrives on such temptations.

In the midst of the pandemic doing its damndest to set new and worsening records of death and health destruction, it is difficult to find reasons to be thankful.

But this is the United States of America. We live for our most hopeful moments knowing that this country can rise above our setbacks and soar to new heights on the world stage, proving over and over again that America can and will provide the light that shines the way forward for our world.

I saw a glimpse of a reason for hope this past week when President-elect Joe Biden announced his foreign policy team ahead of Inauguration Day, 2021.

To a person, they shared their thoughts about the job ahead as well as their own commitment to the work needed to assert the United States back into its important role as a world leader.

At a time when America is gripped in the clutches of the coronavirus, I can’t tell you how refreshing it was to listen to grown-ups, people with experience, brains and the chops to do the job this country needs, tell the world that America is back.

For four years, far too many people have awakened every morning with an angst that shadowed their every waking moment. They voted to end the nightmare and they rightfully took great solace in the words of the people on that stage as Biden’s team was introduced to a world anxious to meet them.

I was especially impressed by former Secretary of State John Kerry, who will be the president-elect’s climate change envoy to the world. Kerry talked about Biden as a man who believed in God but who also believed in the science that will allow us to lead the world to take good care of the earth God gave us.

He didn’t dismiss people of faith, he gave them respect. And he didn’t dismiss science, he embraced it. The two can live in harmony.

And if they do, that will be our best chance to be proper stewards of this planet, our environment and the climate crisis that threatens all of us.

Yes, Thanksgiving was different this year. It was harder on families and friends who couldn’t share it together.

But when the president-elect expressed a vision for America that can lead to peace and prosperity and away from the mayhem of this particular moment, we were able to share a feeling that America is back.

And, soon, we will all be back building the kind of country worthy of its people.

And that, my friends, is a reason to be thankful.

Brian Greenspun is editor, publisher and owner of the Sun.

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