I hope people really do take the time on Thanksgiving to reflect on the gifts of the year. It is a great attitude shifter and one that need not be confined to November. Although Thanksgiving has become in the popular culture as much about the beginning of the shopping season as anything else, it’s a good opportunity to practice giving thanks, even when we are aware of all the things that are not going well. Counting our blessings has a way of making our problems seems smaller.
When I roll through the list of blessings in my mind, the theme that emerges is love. I’m blessed with much love in my life, and for that (and many other things) I’m very grateful.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Hi, Eileen,
I just wrote a long response to this post, and accidentally deleted it before I could submit it. As one of the cynical ones who easily slips into viewing holidays as mandated, forced-fed togetherness, I appreciate what you’re saying. (Both my parents viewed Mother’s and Father’s Day as creations of the greeting card industry, an opportunity to make money off peoples’ sentimental natures. This year I called my mother the day after their wedding anniversary to say…well, to say Gee I hope you had a good day, or something, and she responded, "Oh, yes, so our anniversary WAS yesterday. I completely forgot.")
I’m aware though that there’s a tipping point in the heart between bracing realism that recognizes the absurdity and the just plain weirdness of life, at which sensitive point I could fall into that festering marsh of misanthropy and disdain. Not good for my health or for those I love. Or, perhaps more to the point, for those I DON’T love.
Anyway I posted a blog piece about my Thanksgiving ambivalence, and it’s received a number of hits but not a single comment which makes me wonder if people found it disgusting or something…Maybe I should delete it?
http://www.redroom.com/blog/helenqp/even-lizard-grateful
Oh, well. All this is by way of saying that I couldn’t sleep last night, worrying about a matter that is very important to me but which I am powerless to do anything about…sounds like a good theme for a book, you think? So when I staggered to the coffee pot this morning, I saw your book on the side table, and I decied that I’d better read it before I start serving bugs and sticks to my family for dinner instead of real food.
So thank you from someone who will never be one of the Sweet Ones. I’m grateful that it’s okay to be ambivalent about holidays…It is, isn’t it?
Thanks, Helen. Will post a comment on your blog, so you don’t have to look at that "0 comments" tag. It may be that people were just busy over Thanksgiving and not reading blogs. (I went days without Internet after posting.) It may also be that people are hesitant to write what they think. I wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that they hate what you said, since that often does evoke comments. In any case, blogging is a mystery. I have often wondered if anyone was really reading, but after the book came out I got so many nice emails from people all over who claim to have been reading for ages, even though they’ve never commented. So just trust your own message, put it out there, and don’t worry! (Good advice, huh? I know, easier said than done.)