Someone mentioned that Thanksgiving was this week-end. I questioned that, as I always thought Thanksgiving was in the second week of October. Then they enlightened me by pointing out this weekend is the second week of October. Ah yes, that old warning — ‘Caution, dates on the calendar may be closer than they appear.’
It’s nice to have the long weekend, but it sure is good they only set aside one day to say thanks. Can you imagine if we were expected to be thankful once a month or weekly? What if they expected us to do it daily? How tedious that would become. Think of the difficulty of getting up every morning and actually listing down things you should say thanks for that day. What a way to start the day.
Then of course there is the family thing. What a hassle it would be preparing a big meal, travelling and gathering with all the relatives weekly or daily. Science and technology have finally developed methods of communication that don’t involve driving or flying and don’t require us to cook meals and sit around talking until late at night. Yes, having your family together all the time would get wearisome for sure.
It is so much easier to set aside one day to give thanks. That way we can just forge ahead the rest of the year and take for granted the fresh vegetables we buy, the pasteurized milk, the clean water, the meat and eggs at our disposal, and we don’t even feel guilty when the leftovers get scraped into the garbage.
Even deciding who to give thanks to has become a challenge. Event planners have to decide if someone is going to say grace at the banquet and offend someone or not say it and offend a whole bunch of folks. The planners already have enough to worry about. There are vegetarians, people with nut allergies or those who are lactose intolerant. Certainly they should be considered when planning the meal.
But now they have consider that the crowd may contain Christians, Jews, Muslims, atheists and agnostics, and God forbid we say something to offend anyone. We have to choose to say no grace or make it all-inclusive, pleasing everyone, rambling on until the food is cold. After all, we are Canadians.
We had a simple blessing at our table and it sticks in my head today. My favourite grace comes from the days of Scouting under tall trees around campfires or long tables in camp mess halls. It was singing the Johnny Appleseed Grace from the Walt Disney movie: “The Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord, for giving me the things I need, the sun and rain and the apple seed, the Lord is good to me.”
It doesn’t matter who we say thanks to. It could be the God of your understanding, Buddha, Muhammad, old Uncle Bob, a particular star in the sky or the entire universe. The point is we shouldn’t go around with the attitude that we are entitled to everything we have.
Thank the farmers that grow our food, if you are not religious. Thank the truck drivers that transport the milk and produce. Thank your employer for the change in your jeans, and if you aren’t working, thank every other Canadian that is supporting you.
What the heck, let’s try to give thanks every day, it can’t hurt. At least that’s what McGregor says.