Thanksgiving Today

We all know the history of Thanksgiving in the beginning. But, what is Thanksgiving today? We all sit at the table of food a plenty; passing around the mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and turkey. "Pass the corn please." "Pass the rolls." "Pass the butter." "Pass the bacon..." Bacon? Some do put bacon on top of their turkey when they roast it....so, yes, "please pass the bacon...."

These economic times have weighed heavy on us...unemployment near double digits (there are many who cannot collect unemployment anymore and we mustn't forget them); jobs are a plenty, however, one cannot survive on $8.00 per/hour; people are losing the roof over their heads; now that our job market has moved overseas and those citizens are becoming affluent we look to them to perhaps buy airplanes, and certain cars from us which are pretty much all that is left. Our clothes, toothpaste, foods, etc. are imported. Labels don't even tell you where things are made anymore - it has been changed to "distributed by:" no longer "made in." Warning labels are placed on jewelry stating "don't allow children 14 years old and younger wear this piece" because of the lead and cadmium levels....oh, yeah the heck with everyone else...So, we ask "What do we have to be thankful for?"

We are thankful for being alive, for having the ingenuity to create, for being able to develop ideas taking them to the level of products and services, for wheeling and dealing with "in kind" method of payment, for living in a country that allows us to think and create and develop and become sustainable -- we did it once before we will do it again!

Each of us may be experiencing at least one of the horrors of the economic issues taking place, but we learn of someone else's situation and we realize we should truly be thankful for what we have and we then pray for those who have nothing and see what we can do to help them.

We always were taught about the atrocities in other countries - the lack of opportunity, the lack of work, the poverty levels more than double digits, the lack of food, pure water, of the death and diseases -- that we should pray for them and if we can, help them, i.e., U.N.I.C.E.F. Do think about the countries where the companies/corporations have gone to as they take advantage of others and reap more in profits - the people, the companies/corporations' new employees, don't have the inalienable rights to think, to create, to develop ideas because of the oppression they experience on a daily basis...and think about it - putting food on their tables with the menial wages they are making is a miracle to them! In an ironic almost satirical fashion, our prayers have been answered though with great sacrifice, but they have been answered.

We did it once before we will do it again! Sure our way of life has changed, for some dramatically, but you know what?, we need to remember "Order Always Comes Out of Chaos."

So, as Thanksgiving arrives tomorrow, remember who you are, what you can do and how you can make it happen for yourself and others because its only then you will be able to "Bring Home The Bacon" so that it will be passed around at your Thanksgiving table. And be thankful that you are able to!

Many Blessings as you bow your head in Thanks for what is...

Be thankful for what you have,
for you can have less.

Be thoughtful towards others,
so they may not go without.

Be hopeful of the future,
so we all (including Mother Earth)
will be healthy and prosper.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Indian Summer Explodes With Vibrance. . .

As October ends we await two weeks of warm weather with anticipation so that the crops can be harvested to prepare for winter. It is called "Indian Summer." This event has been taking place for hundreds of years, and to think how we have taken it for granted!

Visit SoBoBo! View the new exhibit that is vibrant in color and creates the excitement and anticipation as we await Indian Summer's arrival. Let's celebrate our thanks by giving a gift that can last forever. . .acceptance.

Before we had refrigerators and freezers the harvested foods would be "canned" in jars, pickled, and/or dried - not freeze dried - dried by hanging them in the attic where heat rose from below drying out the foods. A root cellar was used to keep certain foods from drying out and going bad, perhaps the true first refrigerator since a root cellar is underground and is always cold.

The Native Americans who were here first in North America knew of this event and without hesitation would automatically harvest their crops and prepare them for the winter months so that they will be able to survive over the winter bearing the frigid weather.

When the Pilgrims had landed in New England for the first time, they had no idea what they were about to experience. Meeting the Native Americans was truly a blessing for they had taught the Pilgrims their ways of growing and harvesting of their crops and how to prepare them for the bitter winters.

It is said that at the end of the Harvest, a gathering would take place giving thanks for the blessing that was bestowed on them. The blessing of the Native American friends who taught the new people the ways to live in the new land. The blessing that the survivors of the voyage from England had landed safely on the new soil. The blessing of the Harvest for all to share in preparing for the bitter winter ahead.

Thanksgiving was born in remembrance of this wonderful event! And "the White Man" had given the name "Indian Summer" to give distinction in the change of weather and in the understanding of a wondrous event each year. Isn't it wondrous how Mother Nature works?! A two week thaw in the winter also takes place which allows the snow and ice on the mountains to melt, flowing towards the lakes, reservoirs, rivers, ponds - this in turn gives water that is needed for all living things.

As anticipation builds during the Season(s) of Giving we think about visiting relatives, preparing and cooking Thanksgiving dinner, eating pumpkin pie, having the time off from work and/or school and yes of course - the first day of Holiday shopping!

But yet, some of us will be giving thanks that our fathers, brothers, sisters, mothers, cousins, uncles and aunts have come home from the Iraq War or from Afghanistan ALIVE. Some of us will be celebrating the continuance of life because of being healed from a sickness, or have finally gone into remission. Some of us will be hopelessly jubilant as we learn of being pregnant, getting engaged or married. Some of us will be thankful for the job we have finally attained after being unemployed, no matter how menial it is. Some of us will be thankful that unemployment hasn't run out and we still have food on our tables and a roof over our heads.

No matter how slight or overwhelming our reasons for being thankful are they should always be recognized as achievements and gratitude should always be humbly made.

We should, however, remember the Native Americans who actually had given the gift of life to the Pilgrims through teaching, sharing and helping. The Native Americans should not be shunned for being different because they after all, have made a difference in our lives. Perhaps we should be humbled by their first gesture of friendship knowing it was a gesture of acceptance, to live in harmony with the new strangers who had entered their world.

We need to recognize that Thanksgiving is truly more than just our own little worlds we live in. It is definitely within the "grander scheme of things" whether we want to realize it or not. So pass on the anticipation and the excitement of the upcoming Holiday by giving it forward to those near and dear to you and even those you pass along the way....for one never knows when a gesture of acceptance just might save a life. . .

Enjoy the warmth of Indian Summer as we prepare for the winter months and anticipate the excitement of Thanksgiving! Many Blessings!!