This is my second set of thoughts in a series I am dreaming of. The first was my thoughts on the election please look back and read if so inclined. This one is fitting for this time of the year; dealing with giving thanks and some slight thoughts on the concept of Thanksgiving. This will be followed in the next week with some thoughts on the concept of Love and then right as advent begins thoughts on Christmas. There will likely be a second thought on Christmas right at Christmas as well, but the first thought will deal more with the holiday celebration.
So Thanksgiving… What is it? Well we all celebrate it, we all sort of know its past. We often, as do I, at time add something like Thanksgiving for Indian killing. We all gather together in hoards be it family or friends. Yes, there are some people who celebrate it on their own, but most of us do it in a group. It also tends to not matter your religious inclinations or lack thereof for it is just a gathering to celebrate together.
What is Thanksgiving? It actually began from early harvest celebrations in England giving thanks for a good harvest. It was also associated with the English Reformation. Many other harvest celebrations took place in Europe but America’s ties come directly from the Pilgrims and Puritans version of it. Different immigrants from throughout Europe have added to the celebration incorporating customs from their home country.
Where is Thanksgiving practiced? While the celebration began in 1621 and continued in New England often as a thanks to God it was not until 1863 that it became an official holiday. Liberia[1], Puerto Rico[2], Japan[3], Grenada[4], the Netherlands[5], and Norfolk Island[6] also celebrate a Thanksgiving that is either tied to United States celebration or is due to involvement with or by the United States. Canada’s thanksgiving is actually a combination of French settlers and Americans in favor of the royal crown fleeing to Canada during the Revolutionary War. Other harvest holidays such as Germans celebrations of thanks during Oktoberfest as not related to America or its version of thanksgiving.
Okay so the basics have been covered. Research more if you really want to find out more, such as how turkey replaced goose as the prominent wild game to catch for the harvest celebration rooted in England. Instead I want to just talk about my thoughts on Thanksgiving.
Who cares about the Pilgrim, Puritan, Indian celebration let us look together what it means to be thankful. I know I am guilty of not really being thankful, I am sure many of us in this commercialized fifteen minute society of now are the same. We are blessed far more the civilizations of the past. Yet we forget to give thanks, we forget all the time.
It is this that causes me one thought of sadness. This Thanksgiving after hanging out with Andrew I went to Wally World to get some toilet paper and there I observed lines and lines of people waiting to buy, buy, and buy. I know it may be signs of thanks to others to give them gifts over Christmas, but please people let’s focus on family, friends and giving thanks for that then rushing to lineup for a madness the next day. Oh well I am going to write more about the Advent and my thoughts on our actions due to it in another thought.
How many times in a month, in a week, in a day that forgets the concept of thanks for that which is provided before you? I know some of you may have no faith at all and will say “give thanks to whom?” Just give thanks to life, do not become self-centered and think that only you yourself deserve thanks. No thank others and just thank life. I will thank Christ as well as others. I do not deserve the blessing of this life I am living. I am nothing if it were not for God.
So be thankful. What I am thankful for I am asking myself. I am first and foremost thankful for my faith in Jesus Christ. I truly believe that God (YHWH) chose me, that He sent His spirit to help me see my total debauchery and through His Son, Jesus, I was given the gift of forgiveness. For that I am thankful.
I am thankful for the mind I have been given, a mind that has been gifted with intelligence and memory. I may seem odd due to tumultuous rambling in my mind and may befuddle people when I remember occurrences from the past (almost at times freaking people out). It is that eccentric mind which may at times cause me to over rationalize everything around me yet despite what may seem negative to some I see as something to be very thankful. We all should be thankful for our minds no matter what they are like.
I am thankful for my family. I love and thankful for my mother despite her times of insanity. I love and am thankful for my brothers (Leslie, Peter, Andrew, Alex) and my sisters in blood and due to marriage (Kyrie, Tina, Amy, Maureen). I am thankful and love the rest of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. Some of them are amazing. I am very thankful and love my father’s last wife Karen which only leads me to family member I am the most thankful for and love even despite his passing on to the throne of God, my humble brilliant kind father. Even though we may at times become frustrated or even angry at family we cannot give up love and thanks for them.
Other things I am thankful for and thus have to declare are many. My work programming for Isabelle and herself I am thankful for. She honestly has been the best boss I have ever had. I am thankful for my teaching even when I get frustrated with students. I am thankful that I was born in a blessed country of freedom, the United States. I am thankful for my family history from Hungary and for that matter that am thankful that I am a proud Hungarian-American. I am thankful that for reasons unknown to me I am liked by many. I am thankful to God that He showed mercy in my accident and did not let me die or lose anything but reduced my sense of smell.
I am thankful for my place of residence. I am thankful for the church I attend (Redeemer Presbyterian thankfully blessed by God). I am thankful for things I enjoy in life such as music or art. I am thankful for coffee and yes I am thankful for beer. I am thankful that I have more food than needed. I am thankful for so much.
I am thankful for my friends and acquaintances. I could list them all but there are a few I should focus on. Daniel White for a friendship that I know will last our lives. John Gauger for his intelligence and ways he went out of his way to help me during my accident. Thanks to Kendall Yoder for displaying to me in his journey how ones faith can cause someone to only glorify God more. I cherish Earl for his friendship and still being positive despite his hardships. I am thankful to David Schmidt for being a lifetime friend since third grade. There are many others that I could state, but alas.
I am thankful for the White Hart the workers I have become friends from there (such as Elizabeth Hurt, John Lancaster, Whitney and Matthew Chauta, Tim and Ben Patterson, Caleb and Aaron Turner, Matt Stinger, Taylor, Becca and thus Chris Mancari and so forth). I am thankful for Rivermont Pizza and the enjoyment I find in its beer and it atmosphere and the people there whom I have become friends with who work there. I am specially thankful for Nate the owner and Ashley a bartender there whom I have been friends with for ten years or so. Others I should mention from there are Brandi (who thankfully I think enjoys my random notes), Big Jer, Cassidy, Jake, the Wills, BMG, Lindsay, Peyton thus the Action Bell and goodness just all of them.
I am just thankful for life. I could go on and name hundreds of people to give thanks for their friendship and such; so therefore just add your name and I am thankful that I know you. I could also list hundreds and thousands of events, occurrences or just small parts of life that I am thankful for. Thus I am thankful and you should all be thankful for the gift of life. You see we may not always remember to be thankful but now is a time for thanks.
[1] Liberia is the home of former Slaves from United States and thus American holidays were brought over after the Civil War.
[2] Puerto Rico is the closest Territory in the United States that is almost a state thus their practice of it.
[3] Japans thanksgiving was added after United States occupation following World War II.
[4] Grenada’s is the thanksgiving for United Stated invading a freeing Grenada from a dictatorship.
[5] The Dutch thanksgiving is only a religious gathering in honor of the Puritans time in Leiden on the morning of the American Thanksgiving.
[6] The Norfolk Island thanksgiving is tied to the American thanksgiving after being brought in by American whaling ships.