Today in the United States we set aside a day to give thanks for the bounty we receive. I got to teach about Thanksgiving this week because we happen to be learning about the cultural geography of the Unites States and Canada. While there are many misconceptions about the first Thanksgiving, the central purpose of the day is still the same. I don't mean to tarnish anyone's ideas about the history, but I find that in knowing the truth, the day actually has more meaning.
My students were surprised to find that Thanksgiving did not become an actual holiday until 1863. They also were surprised to find out that the first thanksgiving was not in November as it was a harvest festival and harvest is in early fall. Also, Franklin Roosevelt tried to change Thanksgiving to boost the economy. It really didn't work because people were outraged that he would try to change a holiday, even though government and religious leaders do it all the time throughout history. After he tried to jack with everyone's perceptions, the holiday was given a permanent date on the calendar. It is also interesting to note that the pilgrim's first harvest festival in 1621 was not what they would consider to be a thanksgiving. It was after many hardships in the following years, seasons of drought, sickness, and death that they had a thanksgiving which they considered to be purely a religious day and which they actually called Thanksgiving. Harvest festivals were a tradition brought over from Europe. And while the indigenous population did share in the feasting which lasted three days, there was most likely little hand holding and singing around the camp fire among them and the pilgrims. They were still very divided due to race, religion, lifestyle, etc. Samoset and Squanto were helpful but whites only please!
Ok, so what is my point? I do have one, I promise. I know that modern historians tend to seem jaded or cynical but that is not my purpose. My point and the lesson I taught in school, is that no matter what your religion or lack thereof, thanksgiving is a day for you. No matter your race, creed, faction, religion, height, weight, hair color, eye color, your thoughts on Harry Potter, your political party, your belief on global warming (a sham by the way...just kidding), or whatever the case may be, you can still celebrate Thanksgiving. Because no matter who you are thanking, be it God, Allah, Buddha, the Sun God, the great Turtle on whose back the world was carried, the head of the GOP, or just sending out thanks to the universe, you can still be thankful. And we have so much to be thankful for.
An interesting side note, it was not my religious students who had trouble with me saying that Thanksgiving is not purely a religious holiday, it was the self proclaimed atheist. I thought it would be the other way around. But by the end of the class discussion, he said he saw my point. Who knows, maybe he's giving thanks, just being grateful that is, for all that he has in his life.
Which brings me to a tradition my late Aunt Jo used to have at her house every Thanksgiving. She kept a book from year to year in which everyone who was in attendance was expected to write what they were thankful for in the last year. My happiest Thanksgiving memories are of being at my Aunt Jo's. I cannot eat green bean casserole or a clover roll without thinking of her and her great big smile that lit up the room. Her laugh was not a delicate laugh, although she herself always seemed delicate. When she thought something was extremely funny, her laugh would start out silently and then only make noise when she was breathing in and her nose would wrinkle up all the way to her eyes. I miss her the most at Thanksgiving. Today I want to honor her memory by making my own list of what I am thankful for.
I am thankful, first and foremost, for my dear husband who I know was directed to my life by God. He has changed my life in so many wonderful ways. He is the greatest blessing I have ever received.
I am thankful for my family. I could not always say this in my life. There were really dark times of my childhood which prevented me from being thankful that I belonged to my family. But now, that has changed. Some people have changed, which began healing in my heart, and in another way, I have changed, allowing those of my family to finally know me, to know what has plagued my existence. There is no person in this world who could have caused these changes and I thank God for His movement in my life.
I am thankful for my family. Oh wait, I already said that. No, it wasn't a mistake. I am thankful that my family is alive. My father has been ill for almost 10 years and in the past has been on the brink of moving on. But today, he is healthy in spirit and in mind, and is probably better physically than he's been in 10 years. For those of you who have healthy parents, be thankful. In so many ways, I lost my father 10 years ago. But in another way, in the past year, I have gotten a father I never had. God works in mysterious ways. For this, I am thankful.
I am thankful for life. This may sound cliche but it is true. I have had times in my life where I did not want to be alive or times when I felt I wasn't alive. So for me, life itself is a blessing. And perhaps even greater than the blessing of life itself, I am thankful that I know that I am alive and that I want to be alive. Praise God.
I am thankful for the bounty it which I live. Steven and I are not rich in any worldly manner. In fact, without the help of my mother over the past year, we would probably be homeless. Even though we never really have money, we have never gone hungry, we have always been warm or cool when necessary, we have never gone barefoot, we have never gone without clothing, and when we have been ill, we have had medical care. So thinking in those terms, we are rich. I am thankful to my mother, and to God who put the love and inspiration into her heart.
I am thankful that I am about to graduate! This really should tie into the paragraph above because the reason we never have money is that I have been a professional student for what seems like an eternity. I have written before that my college years have been difficult and they have been. But now they are coming to an end and I couldn't be more grateful. Graduation will be the closing of a very tumultuous chapter of my life but also a time of change which was definitely needed. So I could also say here, thank you Lord for trials and tribulations because the valleys make the mountain tops so much greater!
I pray that everyone has a happy day regardless of where you are and who you are thanking. Enjoy your turkey, be it fried, roasted, stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken, or however you may or may not eat it. In everything, let us all be thankful.
