Giving thanks

Be Thankful

If our pal Hugo Chavez’s antics last week at the Ibero-American conference weren’t enough, this week he decided to try out his toxic personality at the meeting of OPEC. Although the king of Saudi Arabia wasn’t as pointed as King Juan Carlos of Spain, he nevertheless made it clear that the other nations that produce oil (non-Citgo) were not interested in his confrontational, bash-America view.

However, that’s simply an update on last week’s topic. This week is Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving. I enjoy going to church, and being a host for a big family gathering, and making pumpkin pies. But for some, Thanksgiving is simply a time to wish “Happy Turkey Day!” and to indulge in overeating. If there is any giving of thanks, it is not offered to the Creator and Redeemer of mankind, but simply to family and friends. The day after Thanksgiving is a consumer binge-fest, as “Black Friday” makes or breaks many retailers’ hopes for a profitable year.

It could be worse, though. If we followed the advice of this web site, we would deconstruct the myth of the first thanksgiving and realize that Thanksgiving is not a happy day. We could follow the curriculum guide offered here or the one offered to Tecumseh students, and, instead of learning about the Puritans’ faith and lives, we would focus on the types of food enjoyed by Native Americans and the construction of the Mayflower and life at sea on a transatlantic voyage.

I found out recently that the Spanish phrase for Thanksgiving is “el dia de accion de gracias.” It struck me that this had a powerful connotation to it. God doesn’t simply want our “Hey, thanks, God, you’re awesome!” He wants action motivated by gratitude. He wants thanks-living.

We are blessed to live in a country like ours, but many have forgotten the providence of God in its place in history. This article on the Marquis de Lafayette, George Washington’s aide-de-camp, revealed the sad truth that hardly anyone knows anything about the American Revolution any more. This isn’t surprising, considering the statement of one of the committee members who designed Michigan’s new graduation requirements for World History: We don’t care if someone knows who Julius Caesar was. Just make sure everyone knows that Columbus was evil and that to celebrate Thanksgiving is tantamount to celebrating the Holocaust.

When we sit down to dine on Thursday, let’s reflect and consider how we might engage in “accion de gracias.” Think about how, in just one region of the world (south central Asia), people are either worried about a state of emergency called by a military leader loosely allied with the United States (Pakistan), rampaging monkeys who slap women and steal from peoples’ homes but the authorities won’t do anything because they are supposed to be the incarnation of the powerful monkey-god (India), or suffering from the cataclysm known as cyclone Sidr (Bangladesh), where the death toll already has exceeded that of hurricane Katrina and may soon push 10,000. Let’s not be so quick to ignore pleas for help from the less fortunate, or only respond to those in need if we can get a jeans day out of it.

God, make us grateful Christians.