The Spirit of Thanksgiving

November 28 was Thanksgiving Day and I celebrated it with my American friends over a nice meal at an Italian restaurant.

My earliest recollection of the mention of Thanksgiving Day was when I was a child. There was this Looney Tunes cartoon clip which showed a flock of assorted fowls sitting down for a Thanksgiving dinner.  Sitting at the head of the table was the chieftain, who was a turkey. All the birds bowed their heads as the chieftain gave thanks for the food and he ended it by saying, ‘Thank you for the turkey that is before us’ only to realise that he himself was a turkey. I thought that was hilarious.

So amidst all the images of the pumpkin, the cornucopia, corn,  beans, cranberry and of course the turkey, what is Thanksgiving day all about?

The legendary pilgrims, crossed the Atlantic in the year 1620 in Mayflower- a 17th Century sailing vessel. About 102 people travelled for nearly two months with extreme difficulty as they were kept in the cargo space of the sailing vessel. No one was allowed to go on the deck due to terrible storms. When the pilgrims reached Plymouth rock on December 11th 1620, after a sea journey of 66 days, they faced hostility from the natives. So they moved on to Cape Cod coast where the Wampanoag Indians taught them how to cultivate corn and other crops. This led to a bountiful harvest the following year and they commemorated that with a feast. That was how the first Thanksgiving dinner was born.

Even though Thanksgiving comes only once a year, I think that we should make a conscious effort to be thankful for both good and bleak days. If we sit ourselves down and count the  many things to be thankful for, the list is endless. But, alas, we are a forgetful people.

I like to watch documentaries on animals and out of curiosity I compared the gestation period of different types of animals. Hamsters are born after a gestation period of 16 to 23 days while  the gestation period for cats runs from 60 to 67 days. A human baby takes nine months to form and it amazes me that within that nine months, all the intricate sinews and cells are developed. Yet we forget to be thankful for our senses, our intellect, our capacity for emotions and our ability to communicate in a coded language.

We forget to be thankful for our safety. If we can recall how many near accidents we have had, or how many times we have cheated death, we are then reminded of how fragile life is.

On a greater scale, we only have to look at the carnage left behind by typhoon Haiyan to realise that life is not to be taken for granted. In a blink of an eye, an estimated 10,000 people were killed and more than 600,000 were displaced in the central Philippines.

We forget to be thankful for the people around us especially those who love us and care for us. There is this group of people who have played key roles in our transition from childhood to adulthood. There are people who helped mould us, who encouraged innate talent, who believed in us, who showed us how to draw the line in the sand.

We forget to be thankful for basic amenities; what we already have because we are always looking for more or comparing ourselves with others. We only need to look at children sleeping on the streets to be thankful for the roof over our heads. It is said that while we are too busy pursuing dreams, we miss out on living life.

But what about being thankful for life’s challenges, for heart break and for failures?

We are what we are because of what we have been through. We can either let bad experiences break and embitter us or we can break free from them and evolve into better people. Don’t let it be said that we have become what we most despise.

In one of the ice breakers that I experienced recently in a group, I was asked to share with the others what my bucket list is. After thinking for some time, I told them I once had a bucket list but as of now, I have crossed out every one of them. I am content.

Being content is the result of being thankful or is it the other way round where being thankful leads to contentment? Which ever way, giving thanks does so much more for the mind and the soul then griping and grumbling incessantly over what we do not have.

So after the thanksgiving dinner, I gave my friends each a handmade pumpkin pin-cushion.

That was my way of saying, ‘I am thankful for your company’.

Source: http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/the-spirit-of-thanksgiving-1.417461?cache=03%253fpage%253d0%253fpage%253d0%253fpage%253d0%252f7.192560%253fpage%253d0%2F7.319715%2F7.494333%2F7.494333%2F7.494333%2F7.490557%2F7.490557%2F7.490557%2F7.490557%2F7.490557%2F7.575117%2F7.575117