In eight days, many students will gather around tables and eat all kinds of delicious, artery-clogging foods with family members and friends.
In eight days, I will partake in the above but will also discover the world is going to end. Again.
Every year at the Thanksgiving table, I am startled to find humanity is near complete and total doom. If one listened to my family’s Thanksgiving conversations closely, one might speculate that the Mayan calendar ended every year on Black Friday.
Perhaps I am exaggerating slightly because my family is not filled with nihilists who have no hope for society. However, when conversation takes a turn from school and daily life to politics and the general state of the public, things get a little doomsday-ish. I think this pessimism is mostly unwarranted.
There is no ignoring or denying that there is bad in this world. However, there is also always hope, innovation, progress and young people who can make it happen.
On Thanksgiving, I will once again be enlightened to the fact that things just “aren’t how they used to be.” I can already hear my dad half-jokingly but half-seriously saying, “That’s not my America.”
Potential topics for the part of Thanksgiving discussion devoted to politics include ISIS and circumstances in Ferguson, Missouri, among others.
ISIS is a valid point of conversation, and it is worthy of discussion. The beheadings of American journalists Steven Sotloff and James Foley, and more recently, the beheading of American aid worker Peter Kassig, are horrendous.
We should in no way become ignorant or disinterested simply because there are certain things we don’t want to discuss because they’re sad or disturbing. No one enjoys the thoughts and emotions that accompany bad news, but we can’t ignore them.
However, if all we do is dwell on the negative emotion, nothing will change either. The ISIS conversation at my Thanksgiving will most definitely include phrases like “What’s the world coming to?” and “How did we let things get this bad?”
I agree. This is bad, but that doesn’t mean the problem can’t be solved or lessened.
Focusing on what can be done instead of dwelling on the bad seems like a much more productive topic of conversation.
In fact, embracing those difficult emotions will create a less apathetic and more passionate public to elect leaders who can fight this evil.
To answer the questions about how the world got this way, I pose this thought: America and the world have been in pretty bad jams before.
World wars are a good example. These things ended. They ended at great costs that cannot be minimized, but they ended.
This is nothing new under the sun.
Furthermore, the civil unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, will most likely come up.
Earlier this week, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon authorized the National Guard to become active in Ferguson if necessary after the jury’s verdict is released about Michael Brown’s death at the hands of police officer Darren Wilson.
“What has our society come to?” “I hate to see anyone get killed.” Everyone at the table will nod and “hmmm” sympathetically.
It is sad and troubling that this is happening. It is unfortunate, and the looting and rioting in Ferguson is especially devastating for the town itself.
However, let’s consider how far race relations have come in this country and how much further they can go.
Perhaps this is an opportunity for great social change. The beginnings of it may be covered in injustice — the court will decide that — but there’s still the potential for good to stem from it despite the awful circumstances.
ISIS and Ferguson are just a few topics that will come up. Ebola will be one, and of course, President Barack Obama’s name will make an appearance.
What’s a family get-together without that one relative who despises the current president, no matter the political party?
Granted I know I am young, and because of this, I am innately naïve.
No matter how educated or well-read I am, there is something about youth that makes me look on the bright side for a little bit longer.
UF is filled with bright, young people. It’s hard for me to be Eeyore for too long when I see the endless possibilities coming from the young minds here.
This is a cliche to say the least, but the students on this campus are the future. We can change things if we want to, or we can at least try.
Understanding bad circumstances is vital to success, but dwelling in negativity for too long accomplishes nothing.
This Thanksgiving, I will nod and most likely stuff my face with potato casserole and crescent rolls for as long as possible before I speak up during the stint of conversation about politics.
However, I might not need to. My grandparents read my columns on their dial-up Internet service every Wednesday.
I’m sure, as the doting and loving grandparents that they are, they will have no trouble informing my family about my stances on these topics.
Lindsay Alexander is a UF journalism sophomore. Her columns appear on Wednesdays.
[A version of this story ran on page 7 on 11/19/2014]
