Be thankful for what you’ve got.
In the past seven days alone we’ve written about a sickly dog being tossed from a moving car as if it were garbage; a 13-month-old boy treated like a rag doll, suffering severe head injuries allegedly at the hands of his mother’s ex-boyfriend; families affected by Superstorm Sandy being victimized again, this time by the federal government; a doctor, who swore an oath to do no harm, allegedly bilking insurance companies out of thousands of dollars; and an Ozone Park man who allegedly pushed poison in the form of prescription painkillers on our community streets.
Think about those stories and the lives that have been affected.
Be thankful for what you’ve got.
At the Forum, we’re giving thanks for people like Melvin Castillo and his wife, Zulma Valentin, Firefighter William Aaron, and Loy Gordon, the ones who care, the hearts who have already won out over the heartless. Castillo and Valentin were the first to give a damn about Dasher, the ailing Rottweiler left by the side of the road in Ridgewood. After flagging down Aaron and FDNY Ladder Co. 135, the couple helped place Dasher into the care of able veterinarians, while Aaron has said he would like the opportunity to adopt the resilient canine once she’s out of the hospital. Loy Gordon of Neir’s Tavern has made his establishment available—free of charge—for a fundraiser for the continued care and adoption of Dasher. We’re grateful, also, to have the opportunity to help people. We are happy to help people like Joseph Parenti, whom we wrote about last week, get their stories out. We love the community we serve, we take their trust seriously, and we try to help them whenever we can in whatever logical ways we can. The ability to help people like Tim McCabe, who needs to find a kidney donor as soon as possible, merely by being good journalists and spreading the word – that’s what we’re thankful for.
Be thankful for what you’ve got.
We give thanks for people like Monsignor LoPinto, whose work at Catholic Charities is a model we should all aspire to. We’re giving thanks also for the various law enforcement officers who are fighting the crimes we unfortunately must write about every week. And for the elected officials who represent our readership, whether it is in collecting food for veterans or mitigating noise pollution near the airports.
Happy Thanksgiving to our advertisers, without whose support we would never be able to serve the community.
And finally, happy Thanksgiving to you, our readership, for whom we are the most thankful of all.
