[00:04.22]The Thanks We Give
[00:08.71]It's not the turkey alone we're grateful for.
[00:12.25]Not the cranberry sauce or the stuffing or even the pumpkin pie.
[00:16.52]Some of the people seated at the table
[00:19.30]are strangers—friends of friends,
[00:21.59]cousins of in-laws—and some are almost desperately familiar,
[00:25.46]faces we live and work with every day.
[00:28.11]In any other week, today would merely be Thursday
[00:32.21]and the gathering of all these people—the cooking
[00:35.86]and serving and cleaning—a chore.
[00:37.78]But today it doesn't feel that way.
[00:39.86]The host—perhaps it's you—stands up and asks that we give thanks,
[00:45.23]and we do, each in our own way.
[00:47.79]And what we're thankful for is simply this, the food, the shelter,
[00:52.47]the company and, above all, the sense of belonging.
[00:56.63]As holidays go, Thanksgiving is in some ways the most philosophical.
[01:01.72]Today we try not to take for granted the things
[01:05.12]we almost always take for granted. We try,
[01:08.08]if only in that brief pause before the eating begins,
[01:11.63]to see through the well-worn patterns of our lives to
[01:14.95]what lies behind them. In other words,
[01:17.74]we try to understand how very rich we are,
[01:20.76]whether we feel very rich or not.
[01:23.52]Today is one of the few times most Americans consciously set desire aside,
[01:29.48]if only because desire is incompatible with the gratitude—
[01:33.23]not to mention the abundance—that Thanksgiving summons.
[01:36.66]It's tempting to think that one Thanksgiving
[01:39.70]is pretty much like another,
[01:41.48]except for differences in the guest list and the recipes.
[01:44.95]But it isn't true. This is always a feast about where we are now.
[01:49.94]Thanksgiving reflects the complexion of the year we're in.
[01:53.80]Some years it feels buoyant, almost jubilant in nature.
[01:58.40]Other years it seems marked by a conspicuous humility
[02:03.11]uncommon in the calendar of American emotions.
[02:06.68]And this year? We will probably remember this Thanksgiving
[02:11.04]as a banquet of mixed emotions. This is, after all,
[02:14.61]a profoundly American holiday.
[02:16.89]The undertow of business as usual seems especially strong this year.
[02:21.76]The shadow of a war and misgivings over the future
[02:25.00]loom in the minds of many of us.
[02:27.34]Most years we enjoy the privacy of Thanksgiving, but this year,
[02:32.18]somehow, the holiday feels like part of a public effort to remember
[02:36.44]and reclaim for ourselves what it means to be American.
[02:40.30]That means giving thanks for some fundamental principles
[02:44.09]that should be honored every day of the year
[02:47.36]in the life of this nation—principles of generosity,
[02:51.20]tolerance and inclusion. This is a feast
[02:54.02]that no one should be turned away from.
[02:56.16]The abundance of the food piled on the table should signify
[03:00.07]that there is plenty for all, plenty to be shared.
[03:03.12]The welcome we feel makes sense only if we also extend it to others. |