WHAT THANKSGIVING IS TODAY

It’s no wonder why it’s so hard to think about any possible negative implications attached to the things you love. They’re important to you, they’re associated with so many priceless memories, and they may even be a whole part of who you consider yourself to be.

For many, the celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday is one of these things.

The images we illustrate with our recollections of Thanksgiving are muses for poetry, art, music, etc. The values we attach to this special day are admirable: gratitude, love, familial appreciation. 

But unfortunately, nothing exists in a vaccuum. Not even Thanksgiving.

Every single lover of this fall celebration has every right to be enamored with it. Nobody can persuade you otherwise. However, one must wonder where a specific feeling is coming from.

You may know the one – a gnawing, sinking sensation. Seeing plates and plates of food that might not even all go consumed; endless drinks for lips that likely haven’t felt true thirst in ages, if at all.

So often we are witness to images of and even, personal encounters with, those who could only imagine the sustenance. Those who cannot earn what we now stand or sit in front of. 

What we expect every year is truly only a dream to so much of the world’s population, after all.

More than 1 in every 10 people in the United States live in poverty, a rate that has stayed fairly consistent in recent years. With 3 out of 4 economists today predicting another recession in the very near future, it’s an extremely large number of real people that will likely increase.

But hey, it’s not the individual’s fault this is the case in our country. Why should anybody wishing to celebrate Thanksgiving have to feel bad about that?

Well, that’s simply not the point.

The pulling feeling within you doesn’t come from a personal guilt. It comes from recognizing a collective responsibility being currently hindered by the institution we reside in. It is not your fault so many people wonder where they will get their next meal from (never mind the idea of a traditional Thanksgiving feast), but one must wonder whose fault it is, then?

The upper classes certainly do not just work harder than the lower ones, and yet…

Thanksgiving is a time for, well, giving thanks. We know this much. We repeat the sentiment in our heads and to each other every day, after all. How ignorant it is to simply perform the act of gratitude while putting aside the reality of the inability for so many globally to rejoice with us.

It is wonderful so that we may enjoy ourselves and the lives we’ve built for and with one another. It truly does feel like a miracle, sometimes. But it is an illusion to believe that those of us who don’t worry ourselves into a panic everyday about our finances got here alone. That we somehow deserve the privilege. 

On such a colorful holiday, it truly is so easy to distract oneself from these things we all know so well, even in the very back of the mind. By no means should your enjoyment of a day based around the inherently good principle of grateful appreciation be hindered, but some thought is the literal very least one can do. More action is necessary absolutely, but simply recognizing is the first step.

But do not base your thanks around the pity of others. Do not frame indulgence as simply “embracing” what others do not have, since “we could have it worse!” As we all know, so, so many celebrants do. Instead of brushing off those who are suffering with empty words, use their strength to call attention to those who often cannot even do that for themselves.

Consider using your voice and your well-fed spirit to empower others.

This fourth Thursday of November, be content with what you have, and fight for what those in need do not.