Thanks Giving

Twas the eve before Thanksgiving
And in our apartment
Every creature was silent
The picture of contentment

That's it.

Yesterday's post mentioned a shift in the universe. Well, let's face it. The universe shifts every day. It's not like it was a North Korea and South Korea firefight. It was a shocking and unexpected communication from someone I never thought I'd really hear from again.

Thing is that this person now feels that they need my help. After years of misdeeds, they have come asking for my help. Unfortunately for them, they've asked the wrong person. It's not for me to give. In this case, I'm not the proper person to ask.

It took me a while to filter through all the emotions and thoughts to arrive at this conclusion. With this in mind, I want to thank the following people:

Every good person who has ever taken the time to listen and impart some bit of knowledge and compassion to me and mine.

It is Thanksgiving in the USA. It's a wonderful holiday with a complex history. I remember it as a moment in time when people from very different backgrounds gathered together to give thanks. It was one moment in time when all was right with a part of the world.

It was not without its tension and mishaps, but people came together in the spirit of unity and celebration in spite of their outward awkwardnesses and differences. As we've learned, the invited guests brought most of the food since the hosts didn't quite understand how many people they were truly inviting to the harvest feast, and because it was a part of the guests' cultural and spiritual beliefs to help when needed. In fact, we've learned that without the guests' help there would not have been a harvest feast at all because the hosts didn't know what they were really getting into when they moved to this country. The invited guests were willing to help; and thus, many survived to celebration the bounty. We've learned that in the following years the hosts were less than grateful and seemed to forget the generosity and kindness of their guests even wishing ill upon them. The guests were figuratively and literally stabbed in the back by their former hosts.

This is not the Thanksgiving that I celebrate. I celebrate the moment when all was right with the world and remember how it went wrong because I do not want to repeat history.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year because it is important to give thanks and remember that tolerance and kindness are really more important than becoming just like your enemy. Thanksgiving is a holiday that holds great lessons and direction for me. It is a constant reminder of how I want to live my life, and how I wish everyone would live their lives.

I am not Christian. My spiritual beliefs are more closely aligned with the American Indian beliefs, as I understand them. I do relate to both, though. I'm just trying to do it all a bit better. Don't we all try to do it a bit better? Unfortunately, the answer is, "No."

This Thanksgiving,

I am thankful for all the people who do try to to it better.

I am thankful for the many professionals who help people become healthier, happier, stronger people.

I am thankful for so many people, places, things, creatures, memories, beliefs, and skills.

I am thankful for love and commitment.

I am thankful for insight and strength.

I am thankful that I have lived long enough to grow up and understand so much more than I understood way back when.

I am thankful that I can accept so much and so many.

I am thankful that I am learning about boundaries and am better able to establish them.

I am thankful that I am able to ask for help and give help when asked.

I am thankful that I am lucky because I learned from and am learning from some of the best people in the world.

I am thankful that the small miracles of life are not such small miracles; and that, I am able to recognize them.

I am thankful for the peace that follows turmoil because clarity has been found.

Thank you, Life. For all the shit you've thrown at me and mine, you've thrown more feasts. It is truly a matter of clear-headed perspective, after all. A natural consequence of feasts is shit, and it is important to remember that shit is sometimes used as fertilizer to grow the food for the feast. It is important to take the shit that is thrown at us and simply use it as the fertilizer that helps us grow into better people; better than we ever imagined that we would be.

It is the Cycle of Life. The good. The bad. Keeping the baby and throwing out the bathwater - on the plants; so that, they will grow and continue feeding the babies.

Simple acceptance of life is much easier with a thankful spirit. It makes life fun and fulfilling. Thanksgiving is all about fun, full, and filling.

Have a lovely Thanksgiving, Everyone, even if you're not living in the USA, a citizen of USA, or ever been to the USA. What the heck. Let's celebrate diversity and multiculturalism the way it's meant to be celebrated.