As Thanksgiving is upon us, I was thinking about the pilgrims and the events that occurred during the first Thanksgiving.
What it must have been like for two entirely different cultures to come together in friendship. The putting aside of their different cultures and talking with their neighbors. Trying to learn each other’s customs and ways of thinking, and to not be suspicious of each other. I can’t help but to think that we can use a little of that spirit of good will now.
We live in terribly divided times and now that the midterm elections are finally over, let’s come together as one nation and try to solve some of the country’s real problems: Crime, homelessness, fentanyl, inflation, health care, our deteriorating infrastructure, the border crisis. Stop the investigations on both sides, stop wasting time and taxpayer money and focus on the American people and our real problems. Let’s put aside our differences and work together to solve the problems we can all agree on.
I know it seems like both sides won’t listen and that we are incapable of communicating with our neighbors on almost everything, but no matter what our differences are, no matter what your ideology is…
We are still one people.
We are all Americans.
We must come together.
We must talk with each other. We must allow the other side to speak and then try to listen and understand them.
There is so much more that we have in common with each other than our differences. We must allow free speech to prevail.
We are still one nation. The majority of Americans are good, decent, hardworking, honest people who have the same goals and outlook in life.
We all want our family and our country to prosper and to be able to live in peace. We may have different backgrounds and different ideologies but, in the end, almost all Americans want the same things in life. All parents want their kids to grow up in a safe environment and succeed. All parents want their kids to get a good education and have it better in life than they did. Most of us are hoping for our elected officials and our country to succeed.
Let’s try to listen to our neighbors more and talk about our problems rather than react to them. Let’s work to understand one another and be more tolerant.
The Signal celebrated its “Top 51 most influential” list last week with a luncheon to say, “Thank you,” to 51 people on the list, all different, all with different ideas but all 51 of them trying their hardest to make Santa Clarita a great place to live, work and raise a family.
We celebrated these 51 people as the most influential in our community, but as I told them last week, the 51 on the list are only the tip of the spear. These 51 community leaders act as a catalyst to inspire the rest of the community to give, volunteer, to care about our community and to work hard to help others and make Santa Clarita great.
Everyone is influential to their own family, to their friends and to their coworkers.
It must start with YOU. You can make the difference.
This Thanksgiving I am thankful first for my family, my health and my friends.
We should all be thankful that we live in the greatest country there is. A country full of friendly, caring, peaceful and charitable people.
We live in a great city, with great government run by people who care about our community. (Thank you, Ken Striplin.)
I’m also thankful for our advertisers and our subscribers. We would not be here without you. I know this has been a tough few years and we thank you for your continued support. You make it all worthwhile year after year.
I would also like to thank my staff, a group of unsung heroes.
Twenty of the hardest-working people around, who do their very best every morning to inform their community.
But of course, I am especially thankful for my family. My daughter Lauren is doing her last year of internship to earn her doctorate degree in psychology. She already has a master’s and two bachelors’ degrees.
My wife, Chris, and I have been happily married for 39 years now and we live in a community we love.
Our two border collies, Luna and Lucy, are now 2 years old. They spend all day playing in the water and playing tetherball with Chris. They are still very, very cute when they are sleeping.
I am extremely grateful for what I have. 2022 has been a good year BUT not as great as I’m hoping 2023 will be.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.
Richard Budman is owner and publisher of The Signal.
