A Thanksgiving Thank You

It is traditional about this time of year that Canadians gather in family groups, eat enough food to feed a village and hopefully take a few minutes to say thank you for all that we have. It perhaps feels like a well, over-used phrase to say thank for friends and family, but those of us who are lucky enough to have friends or family with whom we are in touch - should be grateful. Both are rare commodities in a world that is so full of strife, chaos and dislocation.

When I am at the market selling my weaving, I usually spin. As I sit there spinning, people quite often come up to me and say how relaxing it looks or how meditative it must be. I usually say that it is impossible to spin while tense, but I never know if I only spin when I am relaxed or if the act of spinning relaxes me. I frequently go on to describe a good day for me which is me spinning for four or so hours with my tablet playing a downloaded audiobook from the library on one side, and my tea on the other
side. I always say I know how lucky and blessed I am to have a life where I get to do what makes me feel good. As I am talking to those people, I can never get over how exceptionally fortunate I am to have such a life.

It is not perfect, I could probably go on for hours (and sometimes do) listing all of the things that I wish were better. But just because things are not exactly the way one thinks they were going to be, is no reason to ignore the extraordinary blessings that so many of us have.

There is a pike of crap that is happening in the world. Syria is still a nightmare and perhaps about to become worse because of Turkey's fight with the Kurds, there are idiot politicians who seem to be hell-bent on boosting their own egos while watching the world crumble around their neighbours, thousands of people who are homeless in Canada are facing the winter months with no place to live and extreme weather events continue to disrupt life causing not only deaths but community dislocation. Not only are these and other problems happening now, but there is no plan, no vision of how to deal with any of the issues. And all the while in Canada the political debate revolves around getting more with no increase in taxes.

I would never suggest that there is nothing that we as individuals can do about some of the above problems. I think that perhaps the first step to changing the world is to recognize that many of us have been unbelievably lucky in how our life has turned out. We need to acknowledge our privilege.

Giving thanks for our blessing is not enough - we need to find ways so that everyone has the opportunity to feel equally as blessed.