ROGERS — Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
Many of you are enjoying a day of family, friends, food and football. I am sure you are thankful for all that, and more.
I, too, am thankful for those things. Well, maybe not football. Hog fans are finding it hard to be thankful for football this year.
We will, no doubt, be thankful when this season ends.
Additionally, I am thankful for a job. Anybody working in journalism these days has to be thankful if they are still employed. And I want to stress to my employers I am darned thankful, as are my creditors.
This month on Facebook, a lot of people have been participating in an effort to post daily what they are thankful for. I didn’t join in primarily because I know I would forget to post something one or 10 days, and people would think me ungrateful.
Besides I have a column to write. So here goes. In addition to aforementioned family, friends, food, football and employment I am thankful for:
-Congress. No, seriously. Who would we have to complain about were it not for those goobers? Not that they are all goobers, but enough of them are that it is a good word to use to describe them. I would be more thankful, however, if they would let the petty nonsense go, cooperate and fix the problems we face.
-Florida election officials. They make their Benton County counterparts look good. Following the next election, I hope to be thankful for an election that goes smoothly and from which we know the winners before Election Day becomes the Day After Election Day, or the day after that or the day after that ...
-The Benton County Election Commission. I am thankful for the work they do, and that they have that work to do. I am not thankful for a theory put forth by commission Chairman John Brown Jr., who said paper ballots are the way to go in the future. Paper ballots are a cop-out. It demonstrates a desire to bury heads in the sand. It also demonstrates a further need for election reform in Arkansas.
-Vivian Michaels, chairwoman of the Benton County Democratic Central Committee. Michaels advocated for an extended early voting period and online voting at the same meeting Brown was saying paper ballots are the wave of the future. Noting Oregon had online voting she asked: “Why can’t we do that? Are we stupid?” No, Vivian. Not stupid. Resistant to change and suspicious of anything more technical than a pencil with an eraser, but not stupid. Thanks for standing up and saying what a lot of us are thinking.
-Texas secessionists. What’s the downside of them seceding? Seems to me there would be more for the rest of us since they would no longer be eligible for a piece of the national tax pie. Besides, they are giving most of us a good laugh.
-Benton County constables. Truthfully, I am not thankful for them, but they are always good for a laugh. They asked money be included for them in the 2013 county budget. The Quorum Court is looking for places to make cuts, and adding expenditures for antiquated positions that should be eliminated by the Legislature would be a ridiculous move.
-And, seriously, I am thankful for those people who serve:
Volunteers. We have a lot of them in Rogers. They are the motor for the engine that has moved Rogers forward.
Police officers. I grew up with a bunch of these guys in Rogers. I know their faults, but I am here to tell you, when the fight is on, I want them to have my back.
Firefighters. Those wild and crazy guys run into burning buildings while the rest of us are running out. Thank goodness they do.
The military. Without them, where would be? Under the thumb of a terrorist regime, I suspect. Our way of life may have been impacted by some crazy people, but, day to day, we still live free. We can thank people like Rogers’ own Aaron Mankin for that. I think of that freedom when I see Aaron or hear him speak. He survived an Iraqi attack; so many didn’t and aren’t surviving in Afghanistan. If you have never heard Aaron speak, Google him. I think he will inspire you.
Leeanna Walker is local editor of the Rogers Morning News and the Springdale Morning News. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NWALeeanna.