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# These are a few of our favorite things
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/these-are-a-few-of-our-favorite-things-20051224/
- Published: 2005-12-24T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T08:23:56.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Community, Santa Monica Airport, #archive-import

This past week, Q-line asked: “What are you grateful for this holiday season?” ✆ “I am grateful for my wonderful family and friends and the strength and comfort of religious heritage. At the same time, I am saddened to see the world around us making it so hard for my loved ones to cope in a dangerous, godless, callous, greedy, duplicitous environment. Selfishness and self-cen-teredness have taken over and are bringing ruin to our world.” ✆ “Being a resident of a convalescent home here in Santa Monica, I am grateful for the fact that I’m much better this year and I can go out and about, go to the farmers’ market in downtown Santa Monica and give money to needy people. So that’s what I’m thankful for.” ✆ “There are five things I’m grateful for: my wife, my wife, my wife, my wife, and lastly, my wife.” ✆ “Well, considering the quality of idiots in Washington D.C., Sacramento, and City Hall, there’s not much to be grateful for in government. But at least I am grateful for the fact “The Simpsons” are still going strong and every week they manage to pull out some new, silly episode even when you think they can’t. At least when Homer Simpson does something stupid it doesn’t cost a lot of lives like when Bush does something stupid.” ✆ “I am grateful that Santa Monica is not yet like Los Angeles. I am grateful that only half the bums from Los Angeles actually stay here. I am grateful that Heal the Bay after 20 years still lets us swim in the Pacific Ocean. I am grateful that there aren’t more gang members having counseling jobs at the Pico Family & Youth Center. I am grateful that police officers are involved with the youths at PAL. I am grateful there are only 2,000 units of low-income housing. I am grateful that the city requires 120 hours of community service to obtain home ownership loans. I am grateful that all the non-profits in this town have a taxpayer subsidized feeding trough at City Hall so they can make a living. I am grateful that we don’t have a video camera on every corner. I am grateful that I can still drive a car in Santa Monica and not ride a horse.

I am grateful that next year we can vote in some decent commonsense leadership. I am grateful to pay only $30 a year to park my car in front of my own house. But most of all I am most grateful that I can still say to the City Council, ‘Merry Christmas and may God still bless you even in your unperceived ignorance.” ✆ “I am grateful for Santa Monica Airport, truly a crown jewel in a sea of gridlock. I am grateful to have a fine and open aviation facility instead of a mega-development in my neighborhood. I am grateful to live within walking distance of Santa Monica Airport. I am grateful for the economic and business benefits brought into the westside community which make Santa Monica Airport a bustling hub of commerce. I am grateful for fine people, businesses and staff whose jobs and livelihood depend on the airport. I am grateful that Santa Monica Airport represents the only transportation mode entirely free of traffic grid-lock on the westside. I am grateful for Angel Flight who volunteer medical assistance flights and for the EVAC (Emergency Volunteer Air Corps) group who stand ready to provide flights for vital emergency personnel to use Santa Monica Airport. I am grateful to see a young generation of flight students at Santa Monica Airport who make the financial sacrifice and undergo the rigorous training necessary to use Santa Monica Airport. I am grateful for years of camaraderie, brotherhood/sisterhood of those who fly at Santa Monica Airport. May thy windsock forever wave in the presence of thine adversaries.” ✆ “I am grateful that our president, George W. Bush, has no sons.” ✆ “The first thing that came to mind is keeping fluoride out of our city water supply. This has been a three-year plus struggle to keep this poison out of our waters and I am very grateful that we have been able to do this so far. Also, I’d be very grateful if the campaign to halt nationwide fluoridation does come to pass and we will be able to eliminate all fluoridation throughout the country.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 24, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/122405.pdf?ref=smdp.com)