Awkward Turkey

In more recent years, the Thanksgiving holiday has felt weird to me. On the one hand I love it. I mean there’s really nothing better than eating awesome, fattening food, watching football and hanging out with family. That there is a whole day dedicated to this completely makes me happy. But then there’s always that one person who ruins it. You know who I’m talking about. It’s usually your grandma, or your great aunt, or maybe it’s you, maybe you’re that annoying person who wants us to turn off football so we can go around and say what we’re thankful for. I have always felt slightly uncomfortable in these moments and for the longest time I didn’t know why. I would listen as we would all go around and say what we’re thankful for- family, a roof over our heads, food on the table, a good job,etc. All great things that we shouldn’t take for granted, but in those moments I tend to be thinking, “but what about the people who don’t have those things?! What are they going around and saying they are thankful for?” I actually legitimately want to know because they would probably have the most simplistic, beautiful things to be thankful for. To me, their thankfulness would feel genuine. I feel weird, hearing on the TV what Americans are thankful for, while eating an overabundance of food and celebrating a day in history when we selfishly took land from the Indians. If I could come up with a hashtag for Thanksgiving it would be #firstworldholidays. It’s almost like that elephant in the room that no one wants to address and so therefore I always feel this pressing need to point it out. But I don’t because then I become the Debbie downer who doesn’t know how to be grateful. Because despite what the holiday originated from, thankfulness is still a good thing to practice. But how do we do that in a society driven by so much greed and materialism?

This is a similar feeling I have when people post things on Facebook about “feeling blessed” and they usually go on to describe something that may or may not actually be a blessing. You see, I feel like our typical way of going about being thankful for things is always in comparison to others. I can just hear parents who say “eat your vegetables, there are starving kids in China” or people who maybe with good intentions try to positively look at their situation by saying “I may not have a job but at least I’m not living on the streets”. However, I always want to say “yeah but what about those people? What about the starving kids in China? Does their plight somehow make my situation better?” I don’t think so. And I think this is why Thanksgiving has always been a weird concept for me.

Of course I should be grateful for what I’ve been given. And of course, resources are not a bad thing. But I guess it’s hard for me to say what I’m thankful for when I automatically feel guilty that I have it and that other people don’t. I think something that has helped me is to start to think of the things that I have been given and to be thankful, not in comparison to others, but that I get to help others. To take this time during the holiday season, and every day, to reflect on the things I am thankful for, whether that’s the gifts and talents God has given me, or the financial resources, or how I have grown as a person, and then begin to think of how I can give back. Usually Thanksgiving is this time to talk about what we’re thankful for and then that’s it. It ends there. It’s like we’re just getting fat not only on food but our own thankfulness. And just like I can’t eat all these delicious casseroles and pies for the rest of my life and not work out and expect to not get fat, I can’t talk about what I’m thankful for without exercising them and putting them into practice. So I now try to see Thanksgiving as a challenge. To, as a follower of Jesus, give thanks to God for how good he is, how much he has changed my life, how he has sacrificed for me, and then to take up my own cross and do the same for others.  

At Christmas, my mom always has us write down what we are going to give back to Jesus that year. Because Christmas, like Thanksgiving, has somehow been turned into a selfish holiday when really, Christmas is about sacrifice. So what I have decided to challenge myself with this Thanksgiving is to show more love and give more affirmation and support to others. I have been shown so much support and been given encouragement and unconditional love from so many people this year that I feel inspired and compelled to pass it on to others. So I want to become a person that supports and loves those around me just like I have been blessed with the past year. What about you? What will you give away this Thanksgiving?