When I was a kid, I really, really hated Thanksgiving. The main reason was because the adults would hammer us with extra speeches about patriotism and gratitude
( Read more... )
When I was little I watched the movie Molly's Pilgrim at least twice, on different Thanksgivings, and in school we learned about the Mayflower but sang songs in both English and Hebrew. My family didn't talk much about Thanksgiving, just got together and ate a lot of food -- I remember wanting the kids (me and my cousins) to put on a Thanksgiving show for the adults one year, but no one was really into it.
I think because of this strange mix of experiences Thanksgiving to me has felt less about strict gratitude and more about being thankful for America. Not the melting pot, patriotic America but Immigrant America. The America where there are more stories than people, and each one is valid. It's more an ideal than a reality, but a nice a ideal to celebrate.
Thanks for sharing...the list of things you said makes me feel like I should start appreciating everything more. Thanksgiving used to be my favourite holiday...then I got older and now, it hardly feels like a holiday anymore. People are gone, our family never comes anymore... But I should still think of the things that I do have today and then it makes me like it again.
It could be that appreciation comes in waves, or we get so accustomed it becomes mere habit. As I get older, and I'm losing my previous generation one by one (as well as peers) I am hyper aware of the ephemeral nature of my precious things. It heightens my appreciation. When I was young, the future stretched into infinity, and I had it all . . . and didn't notice that I did.
Sometimes habit is good, like always being thankful for even the smallest things...but then sometimes it seems as if then it becomes just a chant, "Thanks, thanks, thanks," without any real appreciation behind the words. It scares me when I do not take notice of all the good things that I have; but days like Thanksgiving just give me a new perspective that I need.
We don't do Thanksgiving here in the UK, which makes Christmas all the more special - even given that I'm an atheist. It's our family time. And this year all my little chicks will be home to roost: my daughter, her husband and one year old son who will be living with us as from Saturday while daughter retrains to teach pilates; and my son who is over the other side of the pond doing a PhD in architecture at Princeton. Add to this my 86 year old mum who lives next door and is fitter than I am, and the new puppy (German Shepherd) who arrives on Sunday, aged 8 weeks, and it's going to be fun. :-)
I should also say that we don't really do patriotism in the UK either, at least not overtly. Anyone flying the Union Jack at home would be regarded with deep suspicion as being a far right loony or National Front member (probably the same thing). On my first visit to the USA I was squicked out when I saw American flags flying from people's homes until I realised how much more common it was over there and how it wasn't necessarily associated with extreme political views. That was a definite culture clash moment.
It's one of those little things that suddenly tells you that you're in a foreign country. We see so much American TV in the UK that we think it's a familiar world, but then something apparently insignificant can really pull the rug out from under your feet.
The other biggie is that Americans rarely get how secular a country this is. Because we have a 'state religion' many USians assume we all follow it. (I know very few people who attend church (any church) regularly.) And in return we don't 'get' the American Bible Belt. I mean, we know it exists, but we really don't grok it at all.
Comments 19
Reply
Reply
I think because of this strange mix of experiences Thanksgiving to me has felt less about strict gratitude and more about being thankful for America. Not the melting pot, patriotic America but Immigrant America. The America where there are more stories than people, and each one is valid. It's more an ideal than a reality, but a nice a ideal to celebrate.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Reply
Reply
Thanksgiving used to be my favourite holiday...then I got older and now, it hardly feels like a holiday anymore. People are gone, our family never comes anymore...
But I should still think of the things that I do have today and then it makes me like it again.
Reply
Reply
It scares me when I do not take notice of all the good things that I have; but days like Thanksgiving just give me a new perspective that I need.
Reply
Reply
:-)
Reply
Reply
Reply
The other biggie is that Americans rarely get how secular a country this is. Because we have a 'state religion' many USians assume we all follow it. (I know very few people who attend church (any church) regularly.) And in return we don't 'get' the American Bible Belt. I mean, we know it exists, but we really don't grok it at all.
Reply
( ... )
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment