Like every month there are dozens of things to celebrate
every month: Veterans Day, National Adoption Month, National American Indian
Heritage Month, All Saint's Day, Daniel Boone's Birthday, World Peace Day,
Thanksgiving Day, and National Cake Day. There are so many!
I could address National American Indian Month, for a people
who has suffered so much and of whom we know so very little about. I could
write about the plight of Native people who have been in this land before any
of our European, or African, ancestors came to this land, yet they seem to be
disconnected from our national history. They are certainly a population that
seems to be revered nostalgically, but a population that is disregarded as a
part of our national identity.
In the land that once used to be theirs, they live in the
contradiction of been seeing as outsiders and as foreigners. They are consider
and many times treated as immigrants. It is certainly a sad story in our
American triumphalistic ethos.
There is no doubt that we could say many things about the
native’s people of the Americas, we could speak about these noble and proud
people, whose history and stories are connected inevitably to ours. Whose
history, in one way or another, were part of the country we live in today.
One of those stories that connect native people to our
national history is the celebration of Thanksgiving; or as we say in Spanish, Día de Acción de Gracias (a day to give
thanks). This celebration has been so demythologized that even our most recent
history books have changed the “traditional” version of Thanksgiving in order
for us to learn that without America’s native’s people there would have been no
colonies to speak about in Massachusetts.[1]
Yet, there still a story to tell about this holiday. Despite
all the misinformation and falsehoods created around this holiday, Thanksgiving
Day in America
is about families. It is about coming together as families and enjoying the
sense of community and the blessings for which we are thankful to God. It is about
celebrating each others lives, accomplishments, even loss.
In North American society (and many other countries in the
world) this celebration has become a special day of preparation, a special day
to join friends and family in an act of feasting, celebration, and, in many
cases, a time to remember the good times we have had with our loved ones,
specially those who have passed away. In many places it is a time to pray for
those less fortunate and, even better, in some places it is a time when
families open their homes to those who are experiencing difficult times.
When I was young this day was a celebration we waited with excitement,
the food was not the exciting aspect of the gathering (as delicious as it was),
or the turkey (more often than not chicken or ham would be served), it was the excitement
of knowing that family and the friends would soon come to join us for a
wonderful time of fellowship. I would get upset with my cousins for something
that they did, a toy they took, a joke at my expense, wearing the same clothing
I was wearing, you know what I mean, there was always something. However, we waited
for the day every year with the same eagerness and joy because our cousins, our
aunts, and uncles would be with us, and many jokes would be shared, and much
love would be shared on those special celebrations (without denying, of course,
too much consumption of alcohol, cigarettes, cursing, and general pandemonium).
As we come to the table of plenty this year let us remember
those who are less fortunate, let us extend our tables to welcome those who are
also our brothers and sisters, those for whom Christ died. Let us not forget
those who are having a hard time thanking God for they feel that their
limitations are too great. Let us remember the words of Paul: “Rejoice with
those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:15), because not everyone
will be able to offer a word of thanks this year, yet you and I can offer them.
As we come together this year to the table remember that we
give thanks to God not only on thanksgiving but every single day of the week. As
Paul reminds us:
See that none render unto any one
evil for evil; but always follow after that which is good, one toward another,
and toward all. Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give
thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1Thess.
5:15-18).
As we come together with friends, family, cousins, aunts and
uncles, brothers and sister, parents and grand parents, as we come together to the
feast, to the joy, to the celebration; remember that the reason we are together
is to give thanks to our loving and forgiving God who loves us despite all our
faults and all our shortcomings. Again I say, Rejoice in the Lord for he is merciful
and gracious unto us.
[1] See the
works of historian and teacher James W. Loewen Teaching What Really Happened: How To Avoid the Tyranny of Textbooks and
Get Students Excited About Doing History. New York: Teachers College Press, 2009. Also
Lies my Teacher Told Me: Everything your
American History Book Got Wrong. New
York: Touchstones, 1996.
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