The ethnic American rite of assembling with family and close friends for the annual “Thanksgiving” dinner is unquestionably salubrious, irrespective of its false sand pollyannaish, Hallmark Card Company portrayal of early American history; the proverbial First Americans having, in truth, been forcibly (and shamefully) dispossessed from their traditional homelands. Despite such sophomoric litany, the event remains, empirically and ubiquitously, an undeniably happy, social event
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On the morning following this year’s traditional event, certain cogent thoughts arose which we deem worthy of observation. We do maintain an empirically based doubt that the express holiday theme was “top of mind” of the celebrants; who appeared to be rather more interested in subjects akin to sports team standings, travel to the venue of the holiday dinner, and sundry notable family events..
Nevertheless, we would note certain unspoken, subjects for which participants in the ritualized event, should be implicitly and expressly thankful. Metaphysically basic is one’s physical presence at the holiday meal, attesting to the fortunate continuance of his life. Being alive constitutes the singular and paramount cause of celebration; however, the vital subject is thoughtlessly and, presumptuously ignored, unless the danger of mortality is temporally relevant.
Lost in the morass of mundane social interaction, such as the standing of sports teams, the cost of gasoline and air travel, the expense of household repairs, romantic engagements, movie and entertainment preferences, cooking and baking techniques, weather and global warming, (never politics), vacations, even cats and dogs, is the appropriate consideration of existentially vital matters; such as health, aging, personal dedication, morality, peace and war, global warming and the living environment, as well as societal issues such as race relations, criminal justice, charitable assistance to the needy, educational standards, authoritarian censorship, public health, international affairs, great literature and one’s stimulating participation in the arts, beneficial charitable enterprise, issues of infrastructural need, the military, and immigration. Our uniquely good fortune regarding these existentially important matters is fortuitously dependent upon our American citizenship, for which we should appropriately give thanks.
It may be observed that the implicit and appropriate expressions of gratitude, although usually not included in the mundane discussion at the Thanksgiving table, are matters deserving of eternal recognition and not inadequately confined to a designated day in November.
-p.
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