I have been looking forward to this week for a very long time. You see, it is the first time our family will be together since our children left for school and jobs on the east coast. This week of Thanksgiving is a time for us to be together; to enjoy each other’s company, to eat good food, and to take note of all we have. Thursday is truly a day to remember our blessings and to give thanks for them. It is more than football and pumpkin pie, or at least it should be.
Although I love this time of year with the fall foliage, the brisk air, and the pause in our schedules, I have become increasingly uncomfortable with Thanksgiving. I am uneasy with the inequity of this day. While our extended family has more than enough food on our table, I am keenly aware that too many lack the basics. But it’s not just about the food.
What I am most uncomfortable with is the story we tell ourselves each Thanksgiving. Year after year, we perpetuate the whitewashed myth of our country’s beginning as we retell the story of the “first Thanksgiving.” Nowhere in our celebration is our real history acknowledged. Nowhere is it mentioned how we violently settled this land and how many people suffer(ed) because of it. Nowhere is it acknowledged that Pilgrims sitting down with their Indigenous neighbors for a peaceful dinner never happened the way it’s told.
So, I ask the question: why do we continue to link this beautiful holiday with a historical lie instead of allowing Thanksgiving to be a day when we celebrate just that – giving thanks? Why don’t we once and for all get rid of the tale we preserve and come clean with the truth? It is well known how the settlers mistreated those already living here and the story of the first Thanksgiving does not add value to this day. It never has. I believe it is time to redefine what Thanksgiving is and celebrate a day which honors the good in our lives. Thanksgiving does not need to be linked to a historical event to be meaningful and I believe it would be more profound without the false narrative.
Reexamining how we celebrate this holiday will only increase our appreciation of the day’s meaning. Just because we’ve done it a certain way for years does not mean we should continue doing it this way. Just imagine how powerful it would be to question why we celebrate Thanksgiving and then redefine what the holiday means.
I look forward to laying the Pilgrim story to rest and concentrating on giving thanks. In a world where we too often focus on all we lack, we can never have enough opportunities to note what we already have. I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving.
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