By Bob Falcone
This is Thanksgiving week, and while we’re gathered with friends and family — either around the dinner table or the TV watching football, or at a trailhead getting ready to go for a hike, run or ride — take a few minutes and show your thanks to the many groups in our region that help make outdoor recreation possible. You can donate to you favorite outdoor nonprofit group at the Give! campaign, which runs through the end of the year, or at the Colorado Gives campaign, which runs through Dec. 6. If the nonprofit of your choice isn’t participating in either campaign, you can still donate to them directly. Don’t have cash to spare these days? Consider donating your time and volunteer. Contact the nonprofit of your choice (this is where Google is your friend) and ask them how you can help.
While we’re giving thanks, take a moment and recognize those who showed courage, compassion and integrity in the wake of the unspeakably heinous crime that occurred at Club Q this past weekend. Give thanks to the courageous patrons who subdued the gunman, to the scores of first responders who rushed to the scene, to the many people — both within the LGBTQ community and those who are not — who have shown their support for those directly affected by the attack. Give thanks to the owners of Club Q, who gave the LGBTQ community — and everyone, really — a place to gather and be accepted. Give thanks to our police department for identifying the victims in the same manner as they self-identified and give thanks to a city government for displaying the “Sacred Cloth” Pride flag at our City Hall. Give thanks to the religious community, which, despite some ideological differences, have shown their support for those who suffered through this trauma, either directly or by extension. Give thanks that the person accused of this crime does not represent the many, many good, decent, accepting people who call Colorado Springs home. I have lived in Colorado Springs for more than three decades, and none of this widespread support would have even been conceivable when I first arrived in this city. Still, we have a lot work to do to make sure everyone is welcome and safe. We must do better, and we will.
This crime does not define us.
The support we’ve shown in the aftermath does.
Be Good. Do Good Things