Happy GivingThanks Day

Thanksgiving needs to be a way of life and not just a special day we circle on the calendar once a year. Its easy for us to get caught up in the event of Thanksgiving, but do we really remember to give thanks? Is it a meal or a lifestyle? Often, we cruise into this day on autopilot; we are captured by the routine and structure of the day to the point that we can strangle the meaning.

Start cooking a day or two before...invite people over and then spend 4 hours trying to get them to leave...watch football... oogle over the parade... fall asleep... wake up and hope everyone is gone.

Now, it's unfair for me categorize this as the total Thanksgiving experience for everyone. I am making assumptions and setting up a huge straw man. My point, however, is that we sometimes unintentionally forget to be thankful because we are consumed by the day rather than the idea. So, I thought I would try to go back in time and remember what it was like to view Thanksgiving as a child. It didn't work so I did the next best thing... I interviewed an eight year old child to get her thoughts on this day.

What do you think about when you hear the word 'Thanksgiving?'
I think about food. I get excited because at school we make crafts. I think about the Pilgrims and the Native Americans and how it was in the olden days.


What does it mean to be thankful?
To be grateful and to be happy you have the stuff you do. Be glad that I have the life that I'm living. I am thankful to be alive and have a wonderful life and to help my dad, mom and brother.

Are we perpetuating a culture that has made a distinction between the Day and the Concept? Even at an early age and with no prompting, this child has already begun to divorce Thanksgiving from Giving Thanks. It doesn't have to be this way. My hope that we can do more to foster a thankful attitude all year. We have so much to be thankful for that we don't need to pay homage for just a 24 hour period. We can do more by embracing more.

So, on behalf of all of us at Samaritan House, have a happy GivingThanks year!