Blog #10--Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving
Blog #10—Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving, by Jack Tuttle http://dreamtime3.wix.com/jacktuttlebook
Most of us enjoy a good story. The more exciting or uplifting it is, the more we tend to favor it. Writers know this; some are tempted to exaggerate or falsify stories to gain readership. When it is used for propaganda purposes, the more miraculous it is, the more likely it is to remain useful throughout time.
They say history is written by the victors, which is a truism. It is rare indeed when that history is accurate and includes negative behaviors and results for the victors and successes for the vanquished. Rather, most egos love to glorify themselves at the expense of their enemies. As a result, we have only one side of the story, a history that is incomplete at best and completely phony at worst.
As Thanksgiving approaches, there is value in assessing the true meaning of the event. However, that value can be skewed if we place too much credence on the flowery stories written to describe the early life of the Mayflower pilgrims, who reportedly suffered great stresses before finding a way, with local Native American help, to survive in a new world.
We tend to forget that the Pilgrims were not the first Europeans to lay stakes to the land we now know as America. The Pilgrims and those who favored them over time have written their story, glorifying their successes and ignoring their misbehaviors. The Pilgrims landed in what is now Massachusetts in the year 1620, but Jamestown Colony in Virginia was established in 1607. Giving the Pilgrims kudos for their survival ignores the multiple ships that sent Europeans to America prior to them.
Little was written about the “First Thanksgiving,” and significant parts of the story were written much later than 1621, the supposed date of the first one. There’s even debate over whether it actually took place. The poor way some of the Pilgrims treated the local Indians was ignored entirely. Thanksgiving didn’t become a holiday until the 20th century, and we have continued to romanticize the event and the people who supposedly participated.
But those details, whether correct or not, are immaterial relative to the important reason we celebrate Thanksgiving. It is to remind ourselves how Nature works and how blessed all of us are to have food, shelter and other survival needs on Thanksgiving and throughout the year. Our egos claim credit for putting food on the table, but we play only a secondary role at best in most cases.
Those of us who buy their food from others must rely on a whole network of workers along the chain, all of whom have to do their jobs properly for us to enjoy our bounty. Weather has to be conducive for growing all plant materials, and meats require animals free from disease and in proper condition for consumption. Even those who grow their own crops and hunt their own food have reason for gratitude since they have to be capable of doing the work, know what and where to hunt and have success doing so.
Our egos love to take personal credit for our successes, but we have little if any reason to brag. They say, “God provides.” A force working through us animates us and draws our needs to us. We sometimes have to work hard to get what we need, but both the opportunity and energy to carry out a plan of action are essential to the process. We respond to that energy pushing us forward. We don’t create it out of thin air.
So whether we are eating a hearty meal with family or picking scraps from dumpsters, we are alive and therefore provided what we need for survival each day. Giving thanks for our good fortune acknowledges the role of a higher power and reminds us how we are a part of Nature and not apart from it.
Like all romanticized stories, with time the ego exaggerates it to an extreme. Thus, we now have families who see Thanksgiving merely as a time to engorge on as much food as possible before retreating to the television to watch multiple football games and enjoy time off from work. If that is your tradition, enjoy it.
But the true meaning of Thanksgiving is about reaching out for our connections with our creator and paying proper respect for all good things that happen to us. It has little to do with any of the ancillary stories about the First Thanksgiving we are taught by our elders. And the entire story is unnecessary if we are thankful for all our gifts every day of our lives.
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