My most vivid Thanksgiving memories are those at grandma’s. The trumpet call that marked time to fill the chow line was the opening prayer. I remember when I was allowed to actually offer that prayer up myself, which I did with fearful trepidation. There’s nothing one can self-judge more critically than a flat Thanksgiving Day prayer with your entire extended family in captive audience.
The spread was always immaculate. This was country style, which means not much “style” at all…just a whole lot of intensely fat-flavored food for which every stomach present would audibly beckon. “Stuffing” would not only be an item on the menu that day, but also a mild description of what we did to our stomachs with reckless abandon.
That thought leads me to the after dinner thing that I was truly most grateful for…grandma’s insanely comfortable recliner…which had my name on it for the after dinner nap…with at least one eye slightly opened to catch anything interesting that might be going on in the Macy’s Day Parade, or between the Packers and the Lions. If anyone else tried to sneak in there, I would quickly remind him or her, in Sheldon Cooper-like fashion, that “you’re in my spot.”
The after-nap activities usually consisted of gathering in the front yard to chat, looking for arrow heads in the adjacent tobacco field that always lay fallow at this time of the year, or maybe even trying your hand at some target practice with a real live firearm.
Yes, Thanksgiving Days at grandma’s will remain burned in my memory banks for as long as they remain with some degree of functionality.
Thanksgiving…a day we don’t even celebrate down here in Costa Rica. A day of thanks and gratitude. No one can argue with the utility of that exercise. It all started back in 1621 when the first such feast was held, by historical accounts attended by almost twice as many Native Americans as there were Pilgrims present. That sure didn’t last for long.
I read a very provocative Seth Godin piece this Thanksgiving morning entitled “Culture and Selfishness.” The last line seemed correct until I reflected a little more deeply upon it…Seth writes…
One of the greatest things to be thankful for is the fact that we live in a culture that pushes each of us to be thankful and generous. It didn’t have to turn out that way, and I’m glad it did.
Okay, maybe so, but thankful for what?
It’s often said that you should be careful what you wish for…because you just might get it!
Really, what we’re generally thankful for at first blush is stuff. Grateful for the roof, the rags and the riches of living in a country that grants us the blessed freedom to accumulate.
But are those things really what the world needs more of?
I remember back in primary school when we would draw pictures to represent that first Thanksgiving. We would even dress up like Pilgrims and Indians. The childish thought of Thanksgiving was one of a world in harmony…without division and where everyone had exactly what they needed…not more. Maybe that world existed for those three days back in 1621, but it quickly evaporated thereafter.
Godin goes on to say…
In the U.S., today some people will give thanks for what they personally have. Others will focus more on what has gone right for family and friends. And others will dig deeper and think hard about what they can do to take an even longer view, and to create a platform where even more people will be thankful a year or a decade from now.
I believe that last sentence really provides something to be thankful, as well as wishful, for today, November 26, 2015…
the opportunity to have (and leave) a positive impact upon our deeply troubled world.