THE VALUE OF FAMILY WELCOMING A NEW GRANDSON A TRUE REASON TO GIVE THANKS.

Byline: RICHARD NEMEC Local View

AS one of the minority among American voters who tried to fire George W. Bush earlier this month, I have spent the early days of November in a strange, conflicted funk in which affairs of state leave me feeling empty while affairs of the heart have put a smile on my soul.

This Thanksgiving, I hope to bring that smile with me as I travel to New England for a family gathering.

We will have a new member of our family this year - a second grandson, Theodore Francis - my freshly powdered bundle of hope rolled inside the potential we all would like to feel on those Monday mornings when the alarm jolts us back to a foggy reality. Ted can't relate to that yet.

Since my latest grandson, coming just 16 months after his older brother, Alexander, erupted into this world about 24 hours after the polls had closed in Concord, Mass., he seems to be as good a byproduct of American democracy as we have around this fall, albeit a little naive politically.

Soon after the outcome of the presidential election was clear, the political analysts began picking through the ashes of the Democrats' defeat, and the subject of values kept reappearing. It seems that nearly half of the voting public that selected John Kerry were short on values, while the Bush supporters made values the guts of the long election campaign. They understood their values and the president's, and saw them in harmony.

This oft-repeated discourse causes me to think of what my values are in terms of my newest grandson, who is named for his two paternal great- grandfathers, both men who had solid values but little need to talk or ponder about them.

I assume Theodore Francis will believe in God, or at least a spirituality that transcends human existence. I assume he would never hurt or kill another living creature, except in self-defense or in defense of a loved one. While he is at it, he will lead a law-abiding, worthwhile life in which he gives and takes in balanced proportions.

He'll go to school, eventually settle into a livelihood, hopefully raise a family like his own young one, and eventually name one of his sons after his paternal great-grandfather. Oh, yes, if he is lucky, he will be happy and healthy.

For this Thanksgiving, I don't think we need any more of a moral and ethical foundation than that. I don't think my two grandsons need any more of a prescription other than to be reminded daily by how we - their family - treat them, as much as by what we say, that they are loved and should feel free to return that love.

A minister one recent Sunday told his parish that the church exists to ``preach, teach and make the community better.'' In our families, we are there to love, nurture and teach so we collectively will make our communities better.

I find Thanksgiving this year that much more meaningful because I think it reminds us that values are not political slogans or strident doctrines that only some of us ``true believers'' have. As we look at the families and individuals with whom we gather on a holiday like this one, we see a mirror imagine of our values.

I can see it already in my newest grandson, who carries himself (if that's the right term at three weeks of life) a bit more seriously than his older brother who came into the world with a big grin and has never stopped smiling. Ted was a breech baby who needed a little more help getting here and getting adjusted.

Eventually, I don't know if either of these boys will follow in their dad's footsteps and matriculate at places like Yale and the University of Michigan, but I am sure they will have values similar to all of the grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles and step-children who surround them this Thanksgiving.

Longer term, I am more concerned about how they treat other people than their political party affiliation.

So, this Thanksgiving I am reminded that America's future is not found in its body politic, or the speeches its political leaders make about our forefathers. It is found in the families choosing to come together to signify and renew our collective hope.

With grandson Ted among us the future is ripe with possibilities and that is pretty good.

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Cardinal Roger Mahony serves food Tuesday at ``Para Los Ninos, For The Children,'' an annual Thanksgiving celebration.

Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press