Thanksgiving post lol
So my Dad asked my to write a little speech for today's dinner. I grumbled about it then whipped a little something up. Tried to strike an even balance between stuff that's gone within the family lately and in the country and world large PLUS several instances of "A Song of Ice and Fire" nerditry no one here but me will get anyways. It's a silly little draft, but i'll go ahead and post it here on the off-chance it improves someone's day:
"It is no small truth that many Americans on this Thanksgiving Day, standing on the cusp of the new year may wonder what they have to be thankful for when facing concerns and threats on both the economical and political scale that our country has not felt for a generation. Regardless of race, creed, politics or class we find ourselves united with the rest of the world in a shared sense of foreboding well known to our ancestors, Pilgrim, Native American and otherwise that has largely been forgotten by virtue of our good collective fortune. Although the mechanism and challenges are quite different, the caution and fear these words inspire within us are ever the same: Winter is coming. Economic, global and cultural.
Our forefathers knew well of the uncertainty and anxiety we now find upon ourselves, for they faced it nearly every year. It is to their sense of resilience, determination and dedication to themselves, their families and their community we must look to in order to weather the coming storm and know that these times most of all are that in which we must recall what we have to be thankful for. So too must we know the nature of our discontent, so that we are not overwhelemed by despair but emboldened by hope. As another man facing another great winter once said, “We have nothing fear but fear itself.”
So, I say this now: Let us give thanks. Let us give thanks for the family we could have with us today, and those we could not. Let us be thankful for friendships and acquaintances made, kept, endured and renewed. Let us be thankful for the food we have, for the sacrifices made at every level: To the day laborer who picked the fruit, the truck driver who delivered it, the retailer who stocked it and the countless generations who suffered every trial and error to ensure we that may truly eat and drink to our good health. And let us be thankful for those who are no longer with us, thankful for all the days that we knew them and know them still in our hearts. Finally, and this is most important, let us give thanks for the time we live in, for the road we face ahead. For without the winds of winter, how could man ever foster a dream of spring?"
Happy Thanksgiving, all!
"It is no small truth that many Americans on this Thanksgiving Day, standing on the cusp of the new year may wonder what they have to be thankful for when facing concerns and threats on both the economical and political scale that our country has not felt for a generation. Regardless of race, creed, politics or class we find ourselves united with the rest of the world in a shared sense of foreboding well known to our ancestors, Pilgrim, Native American and otherwise that has largely been forgotten by virtue of our good collective fortune. Although the mechanism and challenges are quite different, the caution and fear these words inspire within us are ever the same: Winter is coming. Economic, global and cultural.
Our forefathers knew well of the uncertainty and anxiety we now find upon ourselves, for they faced it nearly every year. It is to their sense of resilience, determination and dedication to themselves, their families and their community we must look to in order to weather the coming storm and know that these times most of all are that in which we must recall what we have to be thankful for. So too must we know the nature of our discontent, so that we are not overwhelemed by despair but emboldened by hope. As another man facing another great winter once said, “We have nothing fear but fear itself.”
So, I say this now: Let us give thanks. Let us give thanks for the family we could have with us today, and those we could not. Let us be thankful for friendships and acquaintances made, kept, endured and renewed. Let us be thankful for the food we have, for the sacrifices made at every level: To the day laborer who picked the fruit, the truck driver who delivered it, the retailer who stocked it and the countless generations who suffered every trial and error to ensure we that may truly eat and drink to our good health. And let us be thankful for those who are no longer with us, thankful for all the days that we knew them and know them still in our hearts. Finally, and this is most important, let us give thanks for the time we live in, for the road we face ahead. For without the winds of winter, how could man ever foster a dream of spring?"
Happy Thanksgiving, all!