What an odd Thanksgiving this is! Instead of politicians speaking platitudes about the USA there are politicians telling us not to celebrate Thanksgiving outside of our immediate household. Instead of activists trying to destroy the holiday with accusations of faulty history and genocidal takeover, we have blèsséd silence free of activist cant. No platitudes and no cant makes for a relaxing silence.
Meanwhile, we have a significant percentage of this country traveling to their relatives’ houses–even if they are just down the block–while telling both the politicians and the activists what they can do with their orders and their cant. These are people who are tired of the battle between science and ignorance, who are tired of the yearly platitudes and cant, who are worn and simply wish to relate to people whom they know and for whom they care.
For the many traveling, the pardon of a presidential turkey will not convince them that a politician really cares about them. The repetition of an overall genocidal history will not erase the fact that Thanksgiving has taken on a meaning that is not fully related to actual history any more than Halloween has any current relation to All Hallow’s Eve or Samhein or any other historical event.
Thanksgiving has become a semi-religious celebration of family and of gratefulness for a year that has passed. While it is true that some denominations will hold services of thanks today, it is also true that totally non-religious people will also come together to give thanks. Neither group cares for either the politics or the cant. But, both groups care about family and friends.
This has been a tough year. From pandemics to utterly false conspiracy theories (none upheld by any court), to rioting uncontrolled activists with no idea of how to run a neighborhood, let alone a city or a country, it has seemed that bad news after bad news has piled up in the minds of people. It is at times like this that human beings are most drawn to the comfort of whom they know and what they cherish.
Thanksgiving is a holiday tailor-made to celebrate who we know and love and what we cherish. We are a country suffering from both pandemic-fatigue and political-fatigue. It is all very well and incredibly true to say that this holiday will probably accelerate the spread of the pandemic. But, it is also true that neither politician nor activist has provided a vision to which the public can grab and use to keep going through their fatigue. Neither the false conspiracist visions nor the equally false secularists’ visions of how to handle the current pandemic provide much comfort.
No, the public has come to the end of its ability to go on without respite. And, so, even if they know it is not wise, many have decided to go to where they have a safe place, a place where they can celebrate. That place is family and friends, and Thanksgiving is the vehicle that calls people to go back to where they have roots.
I will be with a daughter, son-in-law, and our family today. We will not be able to be with the other two daughters. Tonight I head in to a hospital where I work as a Chaplain one day a week. Tonight I return to COVID and to pain and suffering. Tonight I will do my duty, but I will do it reinforced by that which I cherish, family and friends. Today I understand why so many people are traveling. It is about family and friends and gaining new strength, even if it is not the wisest course for our country. Lord, have mercy.
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