Thanksgiving - What Is This About?
"Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind."
- Lionel Hampton
Any fourth grader can tell you that a traditional Thanksgiving consists of inviting your neighbors over, not having enough food to go around, sending them away after they have solved the problem by unexpectedly bringing more food, then killing them and taking their land. Technically, this is the ultra-traditional Thanksgiving. Fast forward a couple hundred years. Now the Indians have gotten back at old Pale Face with their casinos, and Thanksgiving is an extra long holiday where everyone goes shopping the next day in full force. But what is this day really about? Why do we keep it and hold is as such a dear national holiday?
Well, I think the name is a good indication of this holiday means so much. We give thanks for what we have been given, and take time to recognize that we are pretty fortunate as a nation. For the Puritans, this meant that they could practice their extremely strict version of Christianity without persecution. Some might give thanks for this currently, but I would wager that most people are thankful for things like health, family, and employment.
What am I grateful for? I'm grateful for my family--most of them, and I mean that seriously. I'm grateful to have an ongoing relationship with a swim coach where there is a "mind meld." I'm thankful for the people I work with in the professional setting, and the challenges that I have been given this year in that arena. Health is right at the top of the list. I'm currently in New York and there are a lot of people here in wheelchairs without arms or legs fending for themselves. So yeah, I'm thankful that I have all my appendages and they work reasonably well.
Typically I turn into a total Scrooge come the holiday season, but this year I feel differently. Some of it probably has to do with personal growth, while I would say that another part of it has to do with family situation that seems to be righting itself. For example, just the other day I tried to make my "The Most Depressing Christmas Ever" cd mix and the will to do this just wasn't there. Maybe there is hope for me after all.....
Namaste....
- Lionel Hampton
Any fourth grader can tell you that a traditional Thanksgiving consists of inviting your neighbors over, not having enough food to go around, sending them away after they have solved the problem by unexpectedly bringing more food, then killing them and taking their land. Technically, this is the ultra-traditional Thanksgiving. Fast forward a couple hundred years. Now the Indians have gotten back at old Pale Face with their casinos, and Thanksgiving is an extra long holiday where everyone goes shopping the next day in full force. But what is this day really about? Why do we keep it and hold is as such a dear national holiday?
Well, I think the name is a good indication of this holiday means so much. We give thanks for what we have been given, and take time to recognize that we are pretty fortunate as a nation. For the Puritans, this meant that they could practice their extremely strict version of Christianity without persecution. Some might give thanks for this currently, but I would wager that most people are thankful for things like health, family, and employment.
What am I grateful for? I'm grateful for my family--most of them, and I mean that seriously. I'm grateful to have an ongoing relationship with a swim coach where there is a "mind meld." I'm thankful for the people I work with in the professional setting, and the challenges that I have been given this year in that arena. Health is right at the top of the list. I'm currently in New York and there are a lot of people here in wheelchairs without arms or legs fending for themselves. So yeah, I'm thankful that I have all my appendages and they work reasonably well.
Typically I turn into a total Scrooge come the holiday season, but this year I feel differently. Some of it probably has to do with personal growth, while I would say that another part of it has to do with family situation that seems to be righting itself. For example, just the other day I tried to make my "The Most Depressing Christmas Ever" cd mix and the will to do this just wasn't there. Maybe there is hope for me after all.....
Namaste....
posted by Zen_Accountant at 11:17 AM
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