For the week of Nov 27 - Dec 3, 2002

One eye on the turkey

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With one eye on the turkey, another on Iraq, and the one in the back of our head on the lookout for terrorists, it’s easy to be distracted from the Thanksgiving spirit of looking on the bright side of life.

To help out, here’s a list of things to get the spirit going in this most uncertain of times.

Big things:

1) That the United States sought support through the United Nations and tried one last time to gain Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s compliance with weapons inspectors before pulling the trigger on a war with Iraq.

2) That women in Western democracies are not forced to cloak themselves in burkas, not forced to remain uneducated, and not stoned to death for defying religious dictates.

3) That American states are not dictatorships at war with the others around them.

4) That the U.S. Constitution protects free and vigorous discussion of issues, and news reporters are not sentenced to death for the use of simple declarative sentences.

5) That government can be changed without gunfire and murder.

6) That the U.S. Constitution protects freedom of religion—the freedom to think as conscience dictates.

And a few small things in our own backyard:

7) Towns that are towns—not just strips of mini-malls.

8) The high clear mountain air.

9) The way the sun glints off the snow.

10) The hypnotic color of the aquamarine ice that lines the Big Wood River.

11) The flushed faces of happy people finishing a day of skiing.

12) The overwhelming other-worldly sight of the Milky Way on a clear night.

Happy Thanksgiving.

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.