Once more, ’tis the season for stuffing ourselves with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie and other assorted amenities that many people in undeveloped and downtrodden places elsewhere in the world can only covet, but not consume.
The holiday we call Thanksgiving is not just a feast day when we throw aside all restraints on eating, in preparation for the arduous task of watching football until the time for supper — maybe turkey sandwiches — comes a short while afterward. With all the turkey leftovers, we can make hogs of ourselves.
Thanksgiving should be a time to take stock of our blessings, but sadly, for many Americans, it is merely a warmup to the orgy of materialism known as Christmas.
For Americans, every day should be Thanksgiving, a time to be grateful to our Creator and our forebears for blessings altogether unknown in many countries. Yet, the insatiable lust for things crowds out of our consciousness the awareness of how well off we truly are. It seems as if we have absorbed the sentiment expressed on a bumper sticker of yesteryear: “Whoever dies with the most toys, wins!”
By the way, after the novelty has worn away, many of those toys will likely end up in the numerous self-storage warehouses that dot the urban landscape like drugstores and fast-food joints.
As I think about the abundance in this land of plenty, I recall a Thanksgiving past, when the family and friends sat down for dinner. As older people often do, they told of their past experiences in life. My father recalled post-Hitler Germany in 1945, when the Germans would often scrounge through the garbage cans of U.S. Army mess halls and tents, seeking what they could salvage amid the scarcity and poverty of that time and place. Many times, he said, the German people told him and other GIs, “We Germans could live on what you Americans throw away.” We do not realize how blessed we are.
I am reminded, too, of a drawing in a World War II-era book in my high school’s library. The book was a collection of cartoons by Bill Mauldin, whose heroes, Willie and Joe, resonated with their fellow soldiers in Europe. One cartoon was titled “The Prince and the Pauper,” showing an encounter between a bedraggled GI and a hungry child. Despite the hardships and the difficulties, the American appeared quite well-fed, in contrast to the urchin, whose kidhood was taken away by war.
There but for the grace of God go we.
Think about it this way: If you cannot be thankful for what you have, can you at least be thankful for what you don’t have?
If you don’t have cancer or some other deadly or debilitating disease, is that not a blessing?
If your home was not damaged by hurricane, tornado or a fire, is that not something for which to be thankful?
If you are working or are still able to work, can you be thankful?
When you stop and think about it, maybe you have real reasons to be thankful now and always.