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.
