Thanksgiving Day: A personal thought

It's the official Thanksgiving Day today. The conventional story says that the Pilgrims, searching for freedom from England, survived a harsh environment in Massachusetts with help from the Wampanoag Indians. This resulted in a harvest feast in 1621. Indigenous people believe it should be the Day of Mourning for genocide by white supremacist starting with the early invasion by Europeans at the Coles Hill overlooking Plymouth Rock.

Regardless of historical fallacies and the origin of such a celebration, the concept of Thanksgiving now is rather great from a spiritual and philosophical perspective. We should be thankful for many things everyday and not just once a year. If we could be thankful for what we have (and not lament over what we do not have all the time), life would be more bearable and enjoyable. Unfortunately, in a highly material world with constant rat race that we live in, we succumb to greed leading to unhappiness and misery even when we should be extremely grateful and we never pause to do a little soul searching.

Family, friends, health, food, shelter, education, compassion, etc. may not satisfy greed, but are certainly great gifts to be thankful for. Once we learn to be thankful, perhaps we can try to control our anger, hate, lust, greed, etc. Once we gain such control, there can be true peace on earth.

My wife cooked a wonderful Thanksgiving meal today that we shared with a few family friends. I am truly thankful for everything I have been blessed with and I hope I remember this everyday. Yes, I have shortcomings and I do get upset at times. I hope I get the strength to overcome my shortcomings and become a better citizen of this world.