Thanks and the giving thereof.

Thanksgiving is pretty much my favorite holiday. I know that people just to my left like to use it as an opportunity to talk about all the many things that the arriving Europeans did very, very wrong on this continent and to its inhabitants — and those things were absolutely done, and deserve mention and study and honest, heartbreaking appraisal.

But I would submit — humbly, as is my wont — that the original, nearly-mythological template for the American Thanksgiving ritual is not what the holiday is about. The holiday is about (wait for it) giving thanks.

And I don’t care who you are, where you’re from, who you believe or don’t believe in — giving thanks is a good, warm, and ultimately humbling thing. As with anything human, the holiday is what we make of it, but its bedrock is simple gratitude, and that is a marvelous thing. No gifts other than food and company, no expectations other than that the food be good and the company better.

Now, it’s true: We don’t always live up to those expectations (ask me about the time that my mom’s turkey didn’t actually cook). As with anything human, interpersonal drama sometimes plays too great a role. But that is us — that’s on us, not the holiday. If memory serves, weddings, graduations, birthdays, and trips to the grocery store are routinely marred by drama, too…! Ah, humans!

And so, in the spirit of gratitude, I offer: a list.

But first! I feel safe in assuming that you know that I’m thankful for my husband (who is, and I mean this most sincerely, one of the best men I have ever met) and my children (who are funny and smart and beautiful and healthy) (tphoo tphoo tphoo!), and my lovely home and my own good health. Not to mention friends and loved ones too numerous to mention but without whom my life would likely be rather grim (husband, children, home, and health notwithstanding!). These things go (almost) without saying on Thanksgiving.

But what else am I thankful for? Hmmm….

1. Barack Obama – Still, and despite real disappointment and a great deal of frustration. His candidacy brought out so much of what is right and good in this country, his victory showed that we truly can access it, and his Presidency, while far from perfect and still rather in its infant stages, has brought us to a place so much better than the one in which we wallowed for eight years that, yes: I am thankful — nay, deep-in-my-bones-grateful — for the fact of President Barack Obama.
2. The Constitution – Always.
3. The Declaration – Ditto.
4. Trader Joe’s – How is it that every.single.thing. that I buy there — fresh, frozen, or freeze-dried — tastes better than almost anything I ever buy at Whole Foods? Have they done a deal with the Devil? ‘Cause I’m all in.
5. Tide To Go Instant Stain Remover – Ok, best example: The Tide stain stick got fruit punch out of my kid’s dress shirt on the way to his aunt’s wedding rehersal. And when I say “out,” I mean: Disappeared it, entirely. I know not what alchemy this is — again, deals with the Devil come to mind — but until the study comes out saying its toxic, I’mma have one in every drawer.
6. My kids’ school – I wrote a love note to their teachers in the Chicago Tribune at the start of the school year, something based on a draft I first wrote here, but that love extends to the whole school really. It’s a place dedicated to recognizing and respecting the humanity of the kids taught within its walls at all ages and stages, and outfitting them to meet the world with knowledge, humanity, and a strong sense of self.  I lovelovelovelovelove our school!
7. xkcd – One of the best things in the history of ever! I truly understand Randall Munroe’s humor about, say, 65% of the time, and get close enough another 20%, and then there are those 15% in which I really, but really, have no idea what he’s talking about. And of those times, it’s still funny, about 90% of the time. I LOVE YOU RANDALL MUNROE! (Don’t forget to check out the mouse-over text, people — it’s often the best bit!)
8. The internet – No hyperlink necessary — ’cause you’re there! I’m just old enough that I can very clearly remember life as a kid, student, and working adult in pre-internet days, and young enough to have felt immediately comfortable with the technology when it came along, and people, I’m here to say: The internet rocks. What other tool known to humanity allows one to read the founding documents of our democracy, laugh at stick-figures, and learn how best to get stains out of our children’s clothing? All in one place, and without leaving home? I am just old enough to remain both floored and gobsmacked by the miracle of such massive interconnectivity, and I am very, very grateful that it happened in my time.
9. My family, my friends, my home, my health, and all of the many, many blessings with which I greet my every living day (you didn’t really think I wouldn’t mention them, did you?) – I am lucky, blessed, fortunate, prosperous, positively golden, and my gratitude is positively oceanic.

Thank you.

And happy Thanksgiving!

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Posted by emilylhauser on November 25, 2009

http://emilylhauserinmyhead.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/thanks-and-the-giving-thereof/