What are you thankful for?

It’s the 4th Thursday in November. That means it’s Thanksgiving day in America. Thanks to the Pandemic, people have a different view of what Thanksgiving means. There was a time when it meant that we would listen to the full extended version of Alice’s restaurant, then have a big meal with the family and watch dad watch the Detroit Lions lose a football game with his eyes shut. And, there was always the question: What are you thankful for? Which was usually answered with, “no school today.” All joking aside, though, we had plenty to be thankful for. Since COVID, that question has come up multiple times. And, we now have a better perspective on it. So, What are you thankful for?

In this day and age where people speak of mindfulness and purposeful living, Thanksgiving is a time to reflect. We cherish the past, all the memories of good, bad, and indifferent scenes that make us who we are. We live in the present. Embrace where we are at the moment. Put down the cellphone. Just be here, right now. And, we dream of the future. Think of all the adventures to come, reuniting with loved ones, and plan for a happy healthy, productive life to come. Past, present, or future. We are who we are, at the moment we are.

What are you thankful for? How about the present?

The past is gone. And, we will never actually see the future. For, once it arrives, it quickly becomes the past. So, the only time we ever truly exist is in the present. Close your eyes, breath. Feel your body and all its intricacies at the moment. Recognize your emotions, your thoughts, your consciousness. They are who you are. And, you are only that version of you in that particular moment. As George Harrison said, “All things must pass.” We are constantly changing. So, why not take a moment to see who you are at any given moment? Are you happy? Sad? Indifferent? No matter what it is, that is your reality in that second. Check back in a minute, a day, a week, a year. You will be who you are. You will be someone different. Yet, you will still be the same you.

Embrace the change. Embrace who you were, are, and will be. Accept your reality and live your life. Be grateful for everything in your life. Whether adverse or propitious, all things contribute to making you unique. When we lose something, we gain new prospective. When we gain, we incorporate that into our wellness. And, we can share all that is in us with those who we can benefit the most. Thanksgiving is a time of sharing and gratitude. We can do that on multiple levels: personal, community, regional, national, and global.

How did we get here?

So, where did Thanksgiving come from? It has a checkered history at best. Our American history takes us right back to Plymouth Massachusetts in 1621. There are various versions of what happened. But, the gist of the story is this. The Pilgrims established a colony in Plymouth, MA in an area where the Wampanoag people lived, hunted, and farmed. The pilgrims hunted fowl (not just turkey, but ducks, geese, and other water fowl). According to legend, after arriving back at the settlement with the fowl, some Wampanoags payed a visit bearing gifts of venison, produce, and beer. Over the next few days, the tribal members and settlers broke bread together, shared parts of their culture, and developed a treaty to live as civil neighbors. That treaty was honored for about 50 years.

I understand the frustration on the part of activists who think of thanksgiving as a glorification of the decimation of indigenous people in the Americas. What happened to them is horrific and unforgivable. But, that is not what Thanksgiving is about. It was actually a time of good faith negotiation that actually held for a couple generations. Over the years and given the current state of politics, good faith is not something that anyone is familiar with. But, that is what occurred at that time. So, we should take the spirit of what the “Wamps” and Pilgrims accomplished to heart and show some gratitude.

How about some gratitude?

Here is a word that is bandied about quite a lot these days. But, what does it really mean? What many people call gratitude is more like platitude. You say Thank you or I appreciate the gesture. But, do you really mean it? Often, people just expect things and say they are grateful to be polite. We rarely feel gratitude internally. In fact, it’s only when we reach a low point or something is lost that we appreciate that thing. You get a new job only to find you miss the old routine; or, you get used to a loved one being around them miss the things they do for you.

Gratitude is the base of “grace”. You either have it or you don’t. To be truly gracious, one needs to accept the object of their gratitude for all it is. Your job is mundane, but it is predictable, comforting, and you can do it on auto-pilot. As they say, the grass is always greener. If we truly take the time to analyze what we have, we should be pretty darn grateful. On his birthday, people would tell my father he was getting older. His stat response was, “it beats the alternative.” This is a perfect illustration of how not to take things for granted. Just think, at the start of World War II, only about half the houses in America had indoor plumbing. Now, it is a given. Hell, I’ve seen port a potties that are nicer than some homes. So, what are you thankful for?

What are you thankful for? Appreciate the little things and the bigger ones will follow.

Compare Thanksgiving today to that meeting in 1621. You’ll see a lot to be grateful for. In just 400 years, we went from wilderness survival to watching people pretend to survive on “reality TV”. For most people, roughing it is finding the batteries on the remote dead, so you have to mirror your I phone screen to the TV. The original settlers had to build shelter from actual trees and rocks from an unfriendly land. They had no modern tools, blueprints, or any other shortcuts we consider roughing it. There were no stores, and definitely no Walmart, home depot, or Amazon.

Going back to that internal plumbing thing, think about the pilgrims, doing what bears do, with bears around the corner. It’s not pretty. So, kwitcherbitchin’ and appreciate the little things. If you’re reading this, you are more privileged than 40% of the people in the world, who don’t have internet access. Our lives are so blessed that people make up crap to complain about. Let’s move past that and try to be positive. Instead of lamenting stupid inconveniences, let’s appreciate the conveniences we have.So, What are you thankful for?

Party like a Pilgrim!

All this talk of the “bad old good old days” has me thinking of what the Pilgrims would have shared with their Indigenous neighbors during the first Thanksgiving celebrations. As mentioned before, they would have had fowl (Turkey, duck, geese). The Natives brought venison. And, of course, they were in a seaside community, so fish, clams, oysters, crabs, and lobsters would have been abundant. Produce was limited. It would have been the end of the harvest season, so they would have cranberries, root vegetables, potatoes, and withering corn.

But, they didn’t have combination steamer, roaster, microwave ovens. Nor, were there air fryers or any of the modern amenities we can’t live without. So, for our Thanksgiving celebration to reflect the conditions at the time, we should focus on simpler cooking techniques. Boiling, roasting, sauteing, and frying are the order of the day. And, it doesn’t have to be super fancy. Rustic is the order of the day. But, not completely uncivilized. Remember, the Pilgrims came from gentile British homes. So, Chrstian Mores and customs would definitely preside. Don’t forget, They would be back to their rotten warring European ways before too long.

The Meal:

We are taking some liberties with modern approaches to food here. But, we are focusing on ingredients available to the settlers in 1621. So, here is a possible meal that the Pilgrims and Wampanoags could have shared:

1. Herbed Corn fritters with Cranberry Maple Chutney
2. Kale and Brandied Pear Salad with Roasted Chestnuts and Nutmeg vinaigrette
3. Autumn Ale Steamed Mussels with Caramelized onion and Hot Peppers
4. Sweet Potato Latkes topped with Pan seared Duck Breast and Apple relish
5. Cinnamon Rubbed Venison over root vegetable hash With Juniper scented Demi Glace
6. Apple Tart tatin from our Halloween Menu

So, what are you thankful for?