Thanks and Giving!

Thanks and Giving!
© Allen Merritt (2016)

Let's talk turkey!

In America, Thanksgiving officially comes once a year and it is in late November. Canadians celebrate it a month earlier around October 10^th. Thanksgiving is an opportunity to take time off and get together with family and friends to celebrate "the harvest" and have a dining feast. I guess we can thank the Pilgrims for that.

East, drink and be merry, right?

But what is Thanksgiving? Why should we continue to celebrate it and are we actually celebrating it or using it as an excuse to party down and/or get stuffed and wasted?

In all seriousness, I have heard many people talk about celebrating Thanksgiving every day and also with Christmas. It seems relatively self-explanatory. Give Thanks and share gratitude with others. 

We give thanks for and/or to our families, jobs, communities, churches, cities and country for the ability to have and to do anything. We take stock in what we have and are able to do without taking anything for granted. We offer thanks for everything in recognizing we could be less fortunate and have nothing. We take stock in our lives! In truth, I am not saying anything new here. I don't think there is anything I can say that most people wouldn't already know about this holiday or even with the thought of being grateful and thankful. I believe we all know what the holiday should be about.

At the same time, I see Thanksgiving as a part of a larger picture we call the holiday season where we make some attempt to give back to others, offer gifts to others that are close to us or whom we come in close contact with on a regular basis for one reason or another. Overall, I do not see Thanksgiving as a time to run to the grocery store and start buying bags of groceries to cook and then gobble them up to the point of gluttony. It's not about food and eating. Is it?

I noticed a sign the other day that displayed the idea of Thanksgiving in two words. That is, “Thanks” and “Giving.” Separating those two words out of the one simply gives me pause for thought. I want to thank. I want to be thankful. I want to be grateful. I want to give and give back. I want to give thanks. These are the things I want to be reminded of this Thanksgiving. It's so easy to forget once we get back to our regularly scheduled program. 

I appreciate seeing the message of Thanks and Giving as individual thoughts and actions we convey. It helped remind me of how gratitude plays a deliberate part of our life at least one day of the year. Moreover, it reminds me to be considerate of maintaining the attitude of gratitude throughout each day and every moment of my life.

In writing this, I also noticed that St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital uses Thanks and Giving as a holiday message and as a part of their campaign to raise awareness for childhood diseases. Check them out at the following link:

https://www.stjude.org/media-resources/news-releases/2015-fundraising-news/st-jude-thanks-and-giving-launches-twelfth-year.html

In conclusion, I’m sure many people are grateful and thankful beyond the holiday season, but every day impressions demonstrate the opposite more often than not. We become forgetful as opposed to mindful.

Thank about it. Which would you prefer; to be thankless and ungrateful or thankful and grateful? Which attitude serves us better?

Since it is Thanksgiving time, I want to provide this food for thought to help us remember our blessings and what we have to be thankful for.

Happy Thanks and Giving!

Cheers!