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Editorial: A thankful community this holiday season

Ahhh… Thanksgiving, it’s the beginning of the most wonderful time of the year; whether it’s in Williams, Arizona, at the Grand Canyon, Tusayan, Valle, Parks, Ash Fork or California… scratch that, I meant anywhere outside of California and anywhere inside the state of Arizona.

The bigger picture of Thanksgiving is, of course, that we live in a free country where we can make our life and livelihood anything we want it to be.

We should be thankful for the fact that we can choose our religion, choose our political beliefs, choose our family, choose our profession, and choose where we want to live — in great places like northern Arizona. In spite of our political beliefs, we should be thankful for the fact that we have a right to our opinion and can disagree with anybody else’s opinion. As long as we disagree in a civil manner. We should also be thankful for the right to bear arms, and the fact that we can read a newspaper, like this one, and read this column due to freedom of the press. So many countries don’t have the luxuries or the freedoms we have — so be thankful, my friends, for all of these things that fit into the “bigger picture” of Thanksgiving.

The “smaller picture” of Thanksgiving where we live — Williams, the Grand Canyon, etc. should be thankfulness for the fact that we can walk down the street and see people we know, love, and associate with on a regular basis. We should be happy we can gather with our family, friends, co-workers or people we just met anytime we want to, at any place of our choosing, at any time of the day or night.

Our communities offer great schools for our children and great sporting events for everyone along with fantastic outdoor activities, a multitude of churches, business establishments and clubs that are all locally owned, operated and staffed by people that are our friends, neighbors and associates.

Whether it’s things you love to do indoors or outdoors, in large groups, by yourself or with a few friends be thankful because you can do just about whatever you please in our country, in our towns and across the street. As we move through this holiday season it would be great to hear what you are thankful for at this time of the year through a letter to the editor or stopping by our office just to say “hello”. We want to know what makes you thankful — even if it’s the incessant barking of your neighbor’s dog, just so you know Fluffy is still alive, or your neighbor’s empty liquor bottles in your driveway, that remind you that people have the freedom to party next door.

A man told me recently he was thankful for just about everything. If each of us had this kind of positivity in our lives, everyone’s “bigger and smaller picture” of where we live, not just at Thanksgiving but year-round, would help make this a better place for all of us.

Thank you for reading the Williams-Grand Canyon News and being part of the fabric of your community and your country by exercising your freedom of the press.

Blake DeWitt

Publisher

Williams-Grand Canyon News


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