I am so thankful I am not a Viewpoint editor; it would be depressing to read the millions of complaints people have about a school I happen to love.

I am thankful for this school, and the fact that if there is any aspect that I am unhapppy with, I can always either join or start a group to actively improve it. And, if I cannot improve it, I am thankful that I do have the free will to quit complaining and transfer to another school.

I am thankful for you, the many people (who I don't even know) who did help me up when I fell carrying my books in God Quad, who offered to carry my backpack and held doors for me the time I was on crutches, and who offered to lift my car out of the ditch and over the cement block it was stuck on during that of awful day my freshman year.

I am thankful for the snowangels, snowmen and snowball fights that I happen to see around campus, and for my cozy dorm room with its own adjustable thermostat. And, after experiencing the alternative, I am even more thankful for the summer.

I am thankful that I have a car, access to a parking lot for only $75, and for all of the groundskeepers I DO see around trying to keep up with the snow as best as they can.

I am thankful for the dining hall ladies, who let me eat the day I forgot my ID, who always have a hello and a smile, and who willingly clean up after me when I accidentally leave my Observer on the table.

I am thankful for all of the service opportunities available here, and for all of the students who participate in them. (Do a Summer Service Project in Philadelphia if you get the chance ... you'll be thankful too!)

I am thankful for the ability to take advantage of the free food, free tee-shirts, free massages and free entertainment offered by SUB, and even for those events that do cost a little money. And I am also thankful that if an event doesn't interest me, then I am in no way forced to attend.

I am thankful for the Debartolo clocks that run a little slow, and for the fact that if I ever did need to know the time on my way to class, that at least 98 percent of the student body regularly wears watches.

I am thankful for my own beliefs about God, my life, my religion, my body and my own sexual choices.

I am thankful for the Irish Guard, the chants at basketball games, for Mike Brown, for our school spirit and for all other Notre Dame traditions.

I am thankful for all of the people that I don't have room to mention here, from my professors and roommates to the stir-fry chef who washes out the wok before steaming my vegetables.

I am thankful for our sports teams ... all of them. They are OUR teams, OUR classmates and OUR friends, whether they win, lose OR get arrested.

I am thankful for bun runs, joke ballots (vote for the Horney-Priest ticket in '01!), dining hall riots, and everything else that makes this school a little more fun.

I am thankful that I do not have to rely on negative, scarcastic comments alone for humor. (Bring on the penis jokes!!)

I am thankful I am not bitter, complaining about every little detail about this school.

But most of all, I am thankful I am not a Viewpoint editor!

Angie Rausch

Junior

Pasquerilla West

February 8, 2000

• Prisoners deserve the vote
  
• Give thanks for all the goodness
  
• O'Donoghue/Norton's vision untarnished
  
• Adios, Wadsworth
  
• Don't steal from Debartolo
  
• Awareness of social irresponsibility of Republicans should be raised