Giving Thanks
Thanksgiving. It was a good holiday.
Forget the fact that it’s got unenviable connections to the Amerindian genocide and that the people who started it (both the Wampanoag and the New England Pilgrims) weren’t exactly the nicest people around. And let’s also ignore the fact that the holiday wasn’t even widely celebrated until after the American Civil War. People who focus on these little details and let them get in the way of celebration are like those who say Christians shouldn’t celebrate Christmas or Easter because of their ties to ancient pagan holidays, that Columbus Day is somehow in celebration of the Amerindian genocide, or that all those who celebrate the 4th of July are advocating American supremacy. These people are all missing the point. The point is - have fun, celebrate the good times, lay back, and enjoy your blessings with friends and family.
Last week, like millions across America, I celebrated my Thanksgiving with my family, though oddly I actually celebrated it on Black Friday since we were waiting for my aunt and uncle in Washington to drive on down. It was then that I gave my thanks privately, to whatever forces drive my life and the lives of those I love and cherish as well as all the other lives around the world. For I am lucky. Supremely, ultimately lucky.
It’s a strange thing. We don’t even think about our good fortune most of the time. We take it for granted. And who, really, can blame us? By us, of course, I refer to the citizens of the modernized world, who have it so good even though we don’t remember it half the time. We’re used to our privileges and the bounties life has thrown in our direction. To us, we aren’t blessed or particularly fortunate, we’re normal.
But it’s something to really think about. Think about all the possible lives we could have been born into, all the possible nations that we could have inhabited instead of say, the United States, Japan, or any of the many well-off nations in Europe. Think, for example, if we’d been born in China, which, by the rules of probability we would have been far more likely to have been. True, China’s not particularly bad off but it’s nowhere near as prosperous and liberated as we in the West are accustomed to. The gross domestic product per capita of China, compared with that of America or many other modern nations, is remarkably low given its economic power, mostly a result of its immense size both in terms of landmass and population.
Life in China isn’t horrible. But it’s nowhere near as good as what we enjoy on a daily basis. And for those of us in America, the strongest nation in the world today, we had a little more than four percent chance of actually being born where we live today. Our amazing fortune, of course, increases dramatically when you account for demographics. Take myself, for instance. I’m a white male. That, by itself, gives me an advantage, though not as much of one as it used to thankfully given all the progress we’ve seen over the centuries. That increases my good fortune by roughly three fold, making my overall chance of being born as fortunate as I was just over one percent. Unless, of course, we account for the fact that I was born in California, in which case my fortune increases by a small percentage.
But it’s not just me and all the wonderful experiences I’ve been gifted to have. We are all fortunate. Which makes me wonder, how did we come to be here. As in here, specifically. By all rights we should be several times poorer and several times less fortunate. But in spite of all the mundane misery we find ourselves faced with and all the misfortune our country has seen recently, we still have it well off.
So I give thanks. I give thanks that I was born an American. I give thanks that I was born with a loving family of two parents who care deeply for one another even after two decades, when I’ve seen so many families broken apart in the same time. I give thanks that I have two brothers, with whom I share an uncommon bond and whom I hope I would put my life on the line for. I give thanks to my would-be sister Sayuri Nakazono, who brought such love and new experiences for all of us in the Niven clan. I give thanks for my grandparents, all of them, though two I never knew and one for only a short while, and for all the stories that came from them down to me, which have inspired me.
I give thanks for the friends I’ve made over the years, few though they may be, and for all the wonderful experiences I’ve had. I give thanks for the wonderful and passionate teachers I’ve had, either formal or informal, and for the unique experiences that were available to me in the small town of Point Arena, which fit no normal image of a small town that I can conjure in my head. I give thanks for the talent for writing that has been fostered and encouraged by friends, family, and acquaintances alike and the unique education experiences I’ve been gifted with.
I give thanks for the election, which seems to blow us in the right direction, and to the President who was elected from it, who seems already to be fulfilling his promises. I give thanks to all the actors, artists, and writers who have inspired me and given me passion and I give thanks to the producers who funded them.
I give thanks to whatever divine presence there may be, for giving my life ten years ago when my death seemed certain. I give thanks to the world that has sheltered and cared for me. I give thanks to the nation which protects me and allows me to flourish. And I give thanks to the universe, from which all of us are spawned.
Thank you all.
Nivenus out.
Forget the fact that it’s got unenviable connections to the Amerindian genocide and that the people who started it (both the Wampanoag and the New England Pilgrims) weren’t exactly the nicest people around. And let’s also ignore the fact that the holiday wasn’t even widely celebrated until after the American Civil War. People who focus on these little details and let them get in the way of celebration are like those who say Christians shouldn’t celebrate Christmas or Easter because of their ties to ancient pagan holidays, that Columbus Day is somehow in celebration of the Amerindian genocide, or that all those who celebrate the 4th of July are advocating American supremacy. These people are all missing the point. The point is - have fun, celebrate the good times, lay back, and enjoy your blessings with friends and family.
Last week, like millions across America, I celebrated my Thanksgiving with my family, though oddly I actually celebrated it on Black Friday since we were waiting for my aunt and uncle in Washington to drive on down. It was then that I gave my thanks privately, to whatever forces drive my life and the lives of those I love and cherish as well as all the other lives around the world. For I am lucky. Supremely, ultimately lucky.
It’s a strange thing. We don’t even think about our good fortune most of the time. We take it for granted. And who, really, can blame us? By us, of course, I refer to the citizens of the modernized world, who have it so good even though we don’t remember it half the time. We’re used to our privileges and the bounties life has thrown in our direction. To us, we aren’t blessed or particularly fortunate, we’re normal.
But it’s something to really think about. Think about all the possible lives we could have been born into, all the possible nations that we could have inhabited instead of say, the United States, Japan, or any of the many well-off nations in Europe. Think, for example, if we’d been born in China, which, by the rules of probability we would have been far more likely to have been. True, China’s not particularly bad off but it’s nowhere near as prosperous and liberated as we in the West are accustomed to. The gross domestic product per capita of China, compared with that of America or many other modern nations, is remarkably low given its economic power, mostly a result of its immense size both in terms of landmass and population.
Life in China isn’t horrible. But it’s nowhere near as good as what we enjoy on a daily basis. And for those of us in America, the strongest nation in the world today, we had a little more than four percent chance of actually being born where we live today. Our amazing fortune, of course, increases dramatically when you account for demographics. Take myself, for instance. I’m a white male. That, by itself, gives me an advantage, though not as much of one as it used to thankfully given all the progress we’ve seen over the centuries. That increases my good fortune by roughly three fold, making my overall chance of being born as fortunate as I was just over one percent. Unless, of course, we account for the fact that I was born in California, in which case my fortune increases by a small percentage.
But it’s not just me and all the wonderful experiences I’ve been gifted to have. We are all fortunate. Which makes me wonder, how did we come to be here. As in here, specifically. By all rights we should be several times poorer and several times less fortunate. But in spite of all the mundane misery we find ourselves faced with and all the misfortune our country has seen recently, we still have it well off.
So I give thanks. I give thanks that I was born an American. I give thanks that I was born with a loving family of two parents who care deeply for one another even after two decades, when I’ve seen so many families broken apart in the same time. I give thanks that I have two brothers, with whom I share an uncommon bond and whom I hope I would put my life on the line for. I give thanks to my would-be sister Sayuri Nakazono, who brought such love and new experiences for all of us in the Niven clan. I give thanks for my grandparents, all of them, though two I never knew and one for only a short while, and for all the stories that came from them down to me, which have inspired me.
I give thanks for the friends I’ve made over the years, few though they may be, and for all the wonderful experiences I’ve had. I give thanks for the wonderful and passionate teachers I’ve had, either formal or informal, and for the unique experiences that were available to me in the small town of Point Arena, which fit no normal image of a small town that I can conjure in my head. I give thanks for the talent for writing that has been fostered and encouraged by friends, family, and acquaintances alike and the unique education experiences I’ve been gifted with.
I give thanks for the election, which seems to blow us in the right direction, and to the President who was elected from it, who seems already to be fulfilling his promises. I give thanks to all the actors, artists, and writers who have inspired me and given me passion and I give thanks to the producers who funded them.
I give thanks to whatever divine presence there may be, for giving my life ten years ago when my death seemed certain. I give thanks to the world that has sheltered and cared for me. I give thanks to the nation which protects me and allows me to flourish. And I give thanks to the universe, from which all of us are spawned.
Thank you all.
Nivenus out.