[Mb-civic] NYTimes.com Article: Editorial: The Thanks We Give

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Editorial: The Thanks We Give

November 25, 2004
 


 

It's not the turkey alone we're grateful for. Not the
cranberry sauce or the stuffing or even the pumpkin pie.
Some of the people seated at the table are strangers -
friends of friends, cousins of in-laws - and some are
almost desperately familiar, faces we live and work with
every day. 

In any other week, today would merely be Thursday and the
gathering of all these people - the cooking and serving and
cleaning - a chore. But today it doesn't feel that way. The
host - perhaps it's you - stands up and asks that we give
thanks, and we do, each in our own way. And what we're
thankful for is simply this, the food, the shelter, the
company and, above all, the sense of belonging. 

As holidays go, Thanksgiving is in some ways the most
philosophical. Today we try not to take for granted the
things we almost always take for granted. We try, if only
in that brief pause before the eating begins, to see
through the well-worn patterns of our lives to what lies
behind them. In other words, we try to understand how very
rich we are, whether we feel very rich or not. Today is one
of the few times most Americans consciously set desire
aside, if only because desire is incompatible with the
gratitude - not to mention the abundance - that
Thanksgiving summons. 

It's tempting to think that one Thanksgiving is pretty much
like another, except for differences in the guest list and
the recipes. But it isn't true. This is always a feast
about where we are now. Thanksgiving reflects the
complexion of the year we're in. Some years it feels
buoyant, almost jubilant in nature. Other years it seems
marked by a conspicuous humility uncommon in the calendar
of American emotions. 

And this year? We will probably remember this Thanksgiving
as a banquet of mixed emotions. This is, after all, a
profoundly American holiday. The undertow of business as
usual seems especially strong this year. The shadow of a
war and misgivings over the future loom in the minds of
many of us. Most years we enjoy the privacy of
Thanksgiving, but this year, somehow, the holiday feels
like part of a public effort to remember and reclaim for
ourselves what it means to be American. 

That means giving thanks for some fundamental principles
that should be honored every day of the year in the life of
this nation - principles of generosity, tolerance and
inclusion. This is a feast that no one should be turned
away from. The abundance of the food piled on the table
should signify that there is plenty for all, plenty to be
shared. The welcome we feel makes sense only if we also
extend it to others. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/25/opinion/25thu1.html?ex=1102410703&ei=1&en=7e879a27965114dc


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