Thanksgiving 2017

It is Thanksgiving.....  a non-event for me in that I will be eating an ordinary meal at the usual time - alone. I was feeling rather sorry for myself, having been inundated with various advertisements and posts on Facebook - about how wonderful this day is, of being constantly reminded in food stores and at the Farmers Market of what a special day it was going to be.   I was feeling as if I was missing out on something important - perhaps critical to my well-being.  I do not like feeling sad.  I suspect that for many people, Thanksgiving ranks right up there with Christmas and Valentines as one of the most lonely days of the year. Those of us who live alone are made to feel as if there is something absent in our lives, that other people - in fact most people - are having an ever so much better time doing something else. There is a sense of inadequacies, of there being something wrong with you, of being so terribly alone.

Of course, it is all silliness. It is just another moment in time made special by commercial interests who seized upon the opportunity to make money. It is perfectly normal to be sad about missing family or friends - but not on a specific day - not because someone else tells you to be. It is great to spend time with family and friends - I love doing it - but if they are important people in our lives - we should see them often - not just on commercially define holidays; if we have reason to be thankful - then we need to give thanks every day.

When I look around, no matter how chaotic our lives sometimes may seem to us - we are so much more fortunate than others. On this day when Facebook book postings are littered with peoples' expressions of gratitude for our numerous blessings - it strikes me that those of us that are part of the elite (some education, access to the internet, some form of housing, access to food) need to give ourselves a swift kick in the butt for occasionally feeling as if we do not have all that we need, for occasionally feeling sad that we are missing something.  Notwithstanding the millions of people around the world who lack access to any of the above basic necessities, there are thousands of Canadians who are struggling: the parents who are doing their best to cope without a partner in raising their kids, the young people who have felt as if they had no choice but to leave their home far too early to maintain their sanity and/or their physical safety,or  the older Canadians who see no promise in the future in dealing with their diminishing physical/mental capacities.

When I think about the millions of dollars that have been spent on celebrating this day - the extra food and booze and the advertisements to sell them, and how much was spent in travelling to see family and friends - I can't help but wonder if we would not have all been better off in spending that money helping our neighbours have a better day or week or month. May be I am just envious about those who did celebrate this day with family and friends - but part of me wonders if rather than having a "thanksgiving " day, we would be all better if we had a "giving" day instead.

To honour this day - I donated some money to the Canadian Red Cross and to Doctors Without Borders.