Most days, I remember at some point to be grateful:
—for life
—for breathable air, for water that’s safe to drink
—for access to food, clothing, and shelter
—for health
—for family and friends both near and far
—for sunrises and sunsets, for clear days and for rainy ones.
It seems totally appropriate to me that we celebrate an autumn holiday in honor of gratitude, “Thanksgiving.”
Depending on what traditions we’ve been exposed to, we may think that the Thanksgiving holiday in the current territory of the U.S. originated in 1541 in Texas with Spanish explorer Coronado and the Teya Indians. We might suppose that Thanksgiving started in 1619 in eastern Virginia when some British colonists gave thanks for their safe arrival on American shores. Lots of us were taught as primary school students about the 1621 Massachusetts feast when Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians celebrated together after the immigrants’ first successful harvest. In multiple places in the colonies and then in the U. S., Thanksgiving was celebrated locally or intermittently for a long time, but it only became fixed as a national holiday in 1863. That year, then-President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation making the last Thursday of November (later tweaked by Congress to the 4th Thursday) a national celebration of Thanksgiving.
November 2023 has so far often lacked for gratitude—wars and conflicts dominate our headlines; fiscal and military brinksmanship abounds; in many places there’s a general feeling of malaise and discouragement. Resentment often fills our airwaves and screens. It’s so pervasive that it can seem to poison the very air. Few of us will ever let go of our resentments entirely, be they of long-ago childhood slights or traumas, of former lovers who jilted us, or of perceived business or professional snubs. The rich and powerful are not immune, either. Some can seem resentful that they’ve not obtained even more wealth and/or power. So, especially in this fraught season, it’s important to make time for gratitude.
Fortunately, it’s nearly impossible to be resentful and grateful at exactly the same time. Thanksgiving reminds us to rearrange our lives to expand our proportion of gratitude and to diminish our corresponding “resentment quotient.” We need Thanksgivings, more than we usually admit.
Coronado’s party and the long-ago Virginians and Pilgrims had lives filled with deprivation and danger. Back then, there might have seemed little reason to be grateful. At the first national November Thanksgiving in 1863, the American Civil War raged. Though the tide of battle seemed to have turned in favor of preserving the Union, the outcome was far from sure. Deaths and injuries had touched many families both North and South. In many places, basic goods were either in short supply or totally unavailable. The ill will and resentment that had helped spark the war lingered. Even now, it sometimes darkens our politics.
Happily, for most of us in the U.S. in 2023, Thanksgiving does not equate with privation. It’s sobering, though, that over a tenth of our population fell below the official poverty line in calendar 2022. Moreover, during the period 2020-2022, there were about a million and a half excess deaths, either directly from the covid pandemic, or from other health complications. Many Thanksgiving tables this year are missing one or more previous guests.
Still, it’s my hope that this Thanksgiving many of us will have things to be grateful for. I hope that most of us will resist temptations either to settle old scores or to prefigure the next election cycle. May we, for at least the better part of a day, let gratitude overtake any resentments.
Jinny's Occasional Poems 